Argentina storm into semi-finals

Matches will continue to be held between two arenas at Isa Sports City in Riffa. All are invited to attend, with entrance free of charge. In Argentina’s dramatic victory, which was their second in three Pool F assignments, they dug deep to stay in control and never wavered despite the intense pressure from the Brazilians.

Three players finished in double figures for Argentina, including opposite German Alfredo Gomez, who had 14 points, and outside hitters Lucas Conde and Fausto Diaz, who finished with 13 and 11, respectively.

Franca Maicon dos Santos was Brazil’s top scorer with 16 markers. Argentinian middle blocker Imanol Salazar commented after their win: “It was a great match for the team. We are so very happy. This is history for us.”

Salazar lauded his side for staying positive after losing their first game in the top eight against Italy, but then roaring back with hard-earned wins against Belgium and Brazil to secure their final four spot.

“We know that it is never lost until the last ball,” Salazar said. “We are now thinking of the next match. We are concentrating on facing Iran now, and we will be ready for them.” Italy completed their Pool F campaign winning all three of their games in this stage, but needing five sets to take out Belgium 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 16-25, 15-9) last night.

Opposite spiker Alessandro Alberto Bovolenta had 15 points, while middle blocker Nicolo Volpe and outside hitter Riccardo Iervolino had 11 apiece. Belgium’s Basil Dermaux had a fine performance in the loss, finishing with 32 points. Italy middle blocker Filippo Bartolucci commented: “It was a hard game and we are very happy for this win.

The first set we had bad play because our attacks didn’t go down, but we improved the next sets and won the game. “We are very happy heading into the semi-finals. We are amongst the first four teams in the world and this is for all the work we do with the team and the staff.

“We are pleased with the level of our team at this moment. We are on fire and we are ready for our next game.”

Maximum

Iran secured the top ranking in Pool E with a clean sweep and maximum points after defeating Bulgaria 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23).

Opposite Amir Mohammad Golzadeh finished with 21 points for the Iranians, while Bulgaria star Aleksander Nikolov scored 23. The result put Iran ahead of the Bulgarians on the group table. Poland wrapped up their Pool E campaign with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-18) sweep of Thailand.

Opposite Aliaksei Nasevich had 18 points for the Poles, while outside hitter Kittipong Sangsak had 12 to lead the Thais. Both sides are already out of medal contention and will contest for fifth-to-eighth places. In the consolation pools yesterday India and Mexico claimed their first wins of the world championship, while the Czech Republic completed a sweep of this stage, as did Canada, who beat hosts Bahrain.

The Canadians scored maximum points in Pool G with their 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 29-31, 25- 18) decision against the home side. They are now headed for the ninth-to-12th classification games, while dropping Bahrain to 13th to 16th. Outside hitter Spencer Grahame top scored for the Canadians with 14 points, while Sayed Hashem led the Bahrainis with 20.