Press release

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 27, 2012 – Brazil claimed their 17th South American Men’s Junior Championship title on Saturday by defeating their classic rival Argentina 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-17) in the final at the Volleyball High Performance Training Centre (Aryzâo) in the city of Saquarema, much to the joy of the local fans. Both finalists had qualified for next year’s FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship with Venezuela joining them after beating Chile in the bronze medal match.

It is the first time South America has had three berths at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship. The 2013 event will take place in Turkey. Brazil hosted the last edition in 2011 with Russia, Argentina and Serbia taking the top three spots.

It took Venezuela 11 years to qualify for the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship and they did it in style defeating Chile 25-21, 25-12, 25-20 with Chile showing at times great style but at others Venezuela were too strong.

The best scorer in the final was Brazil’s João Rafael with 15 points while for Argentina Gonzalo Quiroga scored 10.  After the match Leonardo Carvalho, the Brazilian coach celebrated the victory.  “We started about four months ago to fulfill this goal.  We knew it would not be easy because this generation in coming from a defeat at the final match of the South American Boys’ Youth Championship in 2010. They worked very hard and started writing a nice story that we hope it will go on next year at the World Championships.”

For Argentine coach Fabian Muraco, he admitted the Brazilian team was far superior. “Brazil did not allow us at any time to show our best. We are sad about the defeat but happy for the berth at the World Championships that was our main goal.  Now we have to work to do our best at that competition.”

João Rafael from Brazil was named the Best Player and Server of the competition. Luciano Zornetta from Argentina was the Best Receiver; Thiago from Brazil the Best Setter; Fabian Martinez from Venezuela the Best Spiker;  Juan Dias from Colombia the Best Digger while Martin Weber from Argentina was the best Libero and finally the Brazilian Leandro, the Best Blocker.

“Sincerely I did not expect to win these awards.  This was the best way to help the team.  I want to thank all those that supported us. I received all these thanks to my team mates” Rafael said.

The Venezuela coach Daniel Nejamkin (who hails from Argentina) also celebrated.  “We played much better than any other match in this competition. We were another team. Congratulations to my players for obtaining this World berth. We dreamt about it.”

The Chilean coach only confirmed that Venezuela performed better. “Congratulations to Venezuela for their qualification to the World Championships. My team did not play as they did on the prior matches and we paid a high price. Venezuela was outstanding,” Roberto Garcia said.

In the other match, Colombia overcame Peru 3-2 (25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 20-25, 15-12) to finish fifth with Jose Varga from Peru top scoring with 31 points while for Colombia David Renteria scored 24.
 
Final Standings:
1st - Brazil (qualified for 2013 World Championships)
2nd - Argentina (qualified for 2013 World Championships)
3rd- Venezuela (qualified for 2013 World Championships)
4th- Chile
5th- Colombia
6th- Peru
7th- Uruguay

Individual Awards:
Best Server and Best player: João Rafael (Brazil)
Best receiver: Luciano Zornetta (Argentina)
Best setter: Thiago (Brazil)
Best spiker: Fabian Martinez (Venezuela)
Mejor Bloqueo: Leandro (Brazil)
Best Digger: Juan Diaz (Colombia)
Best Libero: Martin Weber (Argentina)

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English