Bahrain title hopes dashed
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Iran and Thailand completed last night the line-up of the elite eight in the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship 2023, currently being held in the Kingdom. The Iranians and Thais secured their spots at the expense of hosts Bahrain, who narrowly missed out on advancing from Pool A.
They now join Brazil, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, Argentina and Belgium as the teams who will be vying for the coveted title. The top eight will be divided into Pools E and F in the next round, which starts tomorrow, with each holding a single round-robin to determine the semi-finalists.
The remaining squads, namely Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Mexico, Canada, India, the Czech Republic and the US, will play in the consolation bracket in Pools G and H for ninth-to-16th classification.
The tournament is headed for a rest day today with the next matches scheduled to be held tomorrow to Thursday. Bahrain were eliminated from further title contention after losing to Iran 0-3 (11-25, 19-25, 19- 25) in their concluding Pool A contest.
The nationals needed nothing less than a win to go through, with Thailand defeating Tunisia 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25- 22, 25-21) in the other divisional clash held earlier in the day. Bahrain head coach Saber Abdulwahed said: “We are disappointed with this result.
We started the tournament very well against Tunisia, then in our game against Thailand, we missed our big chance to go to the first eight. That was the match for qualification. “The reality of our game today is that Iran is at a higher level; they are a big volleyball country. We tried to do our best, but they have stronger players and a better team.”
Top scoring for Bahrain in the loss was skipper Husain Ehsan with 12 points, all in attack. Opposite spiker Amir Mohammad Golzadeh led the Iranians with 16, while outside hitters Mastanabad Mobin Nasri and Bonehgaz Younes Javan each added 10 in the win.
In Thailand’s all-important victory, which put them in second place in Pool A, Jakkrit Thanomnoi had 16 points while fellow-outside hitter Kittipong Sangsak finished with 13. Skipper Adem Elmeddeb led the Tunisians with 17.
Heated
In a heated Pool C encounter yesterday, Bulgaria beat Poland 3-2 (25-23, 26-28, 25-17, 22-25, 15-11). Both sides are among the favourites in the tournament. Star skipper Aleksandar Nikolov had 27 points, including seven service winners.
Fellow-outside hitter Vladimir Garkov added 21 markers for the Bulgarians. For Poland, opposite Aliaksei Nasevich scored 21 points, while outside hitter Piotr Sliwka finished with 18. Bulgaria head coach Andrea Burattini commented: “Today was a very strong match. We are two very strong teams. It was very important to play well at this level; for the mentality, this is most important.”
Also in Pool C yesterday, Canada registered their first victory of the junior worlds after battling from a set down to defeat India 3-1 (18-25, 29-27, 25-20, 25-22). Kaden Schmidt was their leading scorer for the third straight game with 23 points, while Brendan Mills contributed 22.
Brazil completed their sweep of Pool B with a 3-1 (25-18, 22- 25, 25-22, 25-18) victory against defending under-21 champions Italy. The Brazilians secured first place in their group with the result. Captain Buczmiejuk Arthur Bento paced the winners with 20 points, while middle blocker Morias do Nascimento Oliveira and outside hitter Lukas Felipe Bergmann each had nine markers.
Opposite spiker Sanchez Edwin Arguelles had 12 to lead the Italians. Brazil setter Eduardo Sabi Farquin commented: “We had a great game, it was a great victory. Italy made some adjustments in the second set, but we made our adjustments as well and we won the game.
“We’ve now won three matches, but need five more to be world champions. The mentality is to keep doing what we do, keep working with the winner mentality. I think we’re in a good way.”
Egypt claimed their only win of the preliminaries against Mexico in yesterday’s other Pool B fixture. Opposite Zyad Mohamed had 15 points and outside hitter Hamza Awad added 14 to help the Egyptians claim the 3-1 (25-13, 25-20, 17-25, 25-15) result.
Argentina rallied from a two-set deficit to overcome Belgium 3-2 (18-25, 28-30, 25-15, 25-23, 15-9) and end the preliminaries with three wins atop Pool D. Middle blocker Nahuel Garcia and outside hitter Fausto Diaz were joint-top scorers with 17 apiece for the Argentinians, while opposite German Alfredo Gomez had 13 markers.
For the Belgians, skipper Ferre Reggers and outside hitter Pierre Perin finished with 18 points each. The other Pool D contest was a non-bearing affair, with the Czech Republic getting their first win after beating the US 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22). Opposite Jakub Pelikan had 16 points while outside hitter Jiri Benda and middle blocker Jan Cerny each contributed 10. Zachary Rama led the Americans with 20.
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