Top guns triumph in elite eight
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Brazil, Bulgaria, Iran and Italy were all triumphant yesterday on the first day of action in the elite eight, as the battles intensified in the 2023 FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship, currently being hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Brazil maintained their impressive unbeaten run and overcame a tough challenge from a battling Belgium. Bulgaria outclassed Thailand while Iran took a stunning straight-sets win against Poland. Defending champions Italy were also triumphant, posting a victory in three sets against Argentina.
All teams in the top eight are still in contention for the coveted world title and games continue today at Isa Sports City in Riffa. Matches are being held between two arenas from 11am, with the last fixtures starting at 8pm.
Entrance is free and all are invited to watch the action featuring global volleyball’s future stars. Also yesterday, Canada, Egypt and the Czech Republic were winners in consolation Pools G and H, as were hosts Bahrain, who battled back from a set down twice to defeat India.
The 16-nation Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) competition is being held under the patronage of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy president, General Sports Authority chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee chief His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
The Brazilians claimed a hardearned 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23) triumph against Belgium in a hotly contested Pool F encounter. Opposite spiker Neufeld Samuel Carazzai de Morais top scored for the winners with 16 points, while skipper Arthur Bento Buczmiejuk added 15 points.
Belgium captain Ferre Reggers put in a valiant 23-point effort in the loss, while outside hitter Pierre Perin added 14. Brazil head coach Guilherme Novaes Pinto Ferreira said: “It was a good game; congratulations for our team and for Belgium. Now, our next game is with Italy and then Argentina. This is a war.
“We are the eight best teams; all games are very good. We want to win all of them.” Belgium’s Reggers commented: “It was a really tough loss. There were a lot of chances for us, but we didn’t play our best game of the tournament.
If we played well today, we would have had a chance to win as I’ve seen Brazil play better than they did today, so it’s tough to lose in this way—being so close and knowing you could do more.
“We still have two games to play in this round and we will do everything we can to win them and continue to the final four. This is our goal.”
Cruise
Also in Pool F, the Italians cruised against their Argentinian opponents 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-15).
Opposite spiker Alessandro Alberto Bovolenta scored 17 points to lead Italy, while Mattia Orioli added 13. Middle blocker Imanol Salazar scored nine for Argentina. Italy head coach Matteo Battocchio said: “Today was a strong match, we knew that, but lucky for us Argentina did not play well.
It is important for us to get this win because we will next play against Brazil again and then Belgium; they are two teams that can get into the final and win the championship. We try every day to improve and we need to continue to do that.”
Brazil and Italy lock horns this evening at 5pm, while Belgium and Argentina will be looking to bounce back from their losses when they face off at 8pm. In Pool E yesterday, Iran welcomed the arrival of star player Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah with a resounding 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) victory over Poland.
Firouzjah played his first game of the tournament after travelling to Bahrain from the US, where he took part with Iran’s senior men’s team in the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Nations League.
Firouzjah immediately made his presence felt, top scoring for Iran with 17 pints, including an impressive seven service winners. Amir Mohammad Golzadeh added 11 in the win. For Poland, Piotr Sliwka had 14 points while Aliaksei Nasevich had 13 in defeat.
“They just performed better than us today,” said Sliwka. “That is not an excuse, but we are still in the tournament and we will continue to fight for first place. “Every game now is for everything—for our lives in this tournament. I think we don’t have another option but to be positive; sometimes it’s hard, but we have to do it.”
Iran will now be looking to continue their winning ways today against Thailand, while the Poles will be aiming to keep their semi-final hopes alive when they take on Bulgaria. The Bulgarians were 3-0 (25- 21, 25-18, 25-20) winners against the Thais, with opposite spiker Venislav Antov and star outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov scoring 18 and 14 points, respectively.
Jakkrit Thanomnoi had 11 to pace Thailand. In consolation Pool G, home side Bahrain showed their fighting spirit in a tight 3-2 (23-25, 28-26, 21-25, 25-20, 15-11) win against India. The nationals fell behind twice in the contest, but roared back to come away with the impressive victory.
Sayed Hashem had a game-high 31 points, including 28 in attack, while fellow-outside hitter Husain Ehsan added 28 markers. Aman Kumar paced India with 23 points. The other Pool G encounter saw Canada defeat Tunisia 3-1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18).
Out-side hitter Kaden Schmidt had 17 points as their leading scorer once again, while middle blocker Cory Schoenherr added 13. Tahar Mahdi Ben scored 13 to pace Tunisia. In Pool H, Egypt claimed a 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20) win against the US. Skipper Zyad Mohamed had 24 points to lead the Egyptians, including 21 in attack.
Hamza Awad added 14. Dillon Klein scored 22 for the US. For the Czech Republic, they took care of Mexico 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-22). David Kollator had 16 points in the win while outside hitter Jiri Benda added 13, with both players registering four service winners. Angel Ivan Dominguez Carrillo paced the Mexicans with nine points.
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