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Belarus move to next round despite courageous Brits display |
Britain's Danny Weemes tries to overcome the Belarusian block |
Sheffield, England, January 4, 2008 - Belarus secured their berth for the second round of the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championship but had to work hard to see off hosts Great Britain in four sets (25-23, 13-25, 25-22, 25-17) at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
The team now progresses to face Germany, Croatia and Slovakia in Poprad (Slovakia) this coming May but the British team threatened to topple them in stages, particularly with a devastating performance in the second set.
Belarus captain Aleh Akhrem warned that his team needs to improve if they are to make it all the way to the final round in Italy in 2010. “We have some young players in the team and we have not played very well in Great Britain. If we play the same way in the second round then we will have no chance of getting through to the third round. But we now have some time to do some work and we will improve.”
Coach Aliaksandr Sinhayevski added, “I think some of my players were too nervous about the result and the importance of getting to the next round. The British team played better than us in defense and we had problems blocking the GB players.”
GB captain Ben Pipes said, “It was a totally different team than the one that we showed up against Israel. We knew we had a poor performance on Friday and we were fed up banging about our hotel waiting to make amends. We couldn’t wait for this match and, if we could have played it straight after facing Israel we would have. But we have still to put together a great performance over a full match. We have done well in sets - and I would rate that second set performance up in the top five we have produced as a team.”
Great Britain held up well to the examination and Brazilian-born Mark Plotyczer raised his game. Danny Weemes was also having great success with his hits down the line. Belarus could not pick up a thunderous serve from Plotyczer as Britain led 8-7 at the first technical time-out but Belarus edged in front after that. Nathan Bennett served into the net to give them a 16-13 lead but Weemes continued to get past the Belarus block to keep GB in the set. Aliaksandr Yelistratau put Belarus 23-18 ahead with a cross-court hit but GB came back with two great strikes from Plotyczer keeping them in the set as they closed it to 21-23, forcing Belarus to take a time-out. The GB team saved two set points but Belarus held it together to take the set 25-23.
It was a more spirited performance than that they had shown against Israel and even when Belarus got through their block, the back court did its job and GB gave up few cheap points. The hosts led 11-4 and 18-9 in the second set with Plotyczer showing power, invention and resilience in a commanding all-round performance. Belarus took the chance to remind GB they were still in the set when captain Aleh Akhrem served an ace but he then put his next serve into the net to give GB a 21-13 lead. Some remarkable defense which ended with a winning block from Mark McGivern ended the best rally of the set and GB went on to close it out 25-13.
GB started the third set solidly to lead 10-8 but this time Belarus stuck tightly and another service from Bennett into the net gave them a 13-12 lead. GB led only once after that (14-13) and Belarus stretched their lead at the end of the set. GB coach Harry Brokking was forced into a time-out as Belarus went from 19-19 to 21-19 but a power hit for Akhrem through the middle gave Belarus a set point at 24-20. Again, GB saved two set points but it was Akhrem again with a spike off the block that gave Belarus the set 25-22.
There is a doubt over GB’s future funding and coach Harry Brokking said, “I have a team of rough diamonds and to polish those diamonds takes both time and money. It’s time that this country works up to that.”
Results:
Great Britain vs. Israel 1-3 (14-25, 25-21, 22-25, 14-25)
Belarus vs. Israel 3-2 (24-26, 25-19,18-25, 25-22,15-11)
Great Britain vs. Belarus 1-3 (23-25, 25-13, 22-25, 17-25)
Final standings Men's First Round Pool A (Europe):
1. Belarus 4 (2-0)
2. Israel 3 (1-1)
3. Great Britain 2 (0-2)
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Contact:
FIVB Press Department Director - Richard Baker
Mobile. +39 334 914 1332
Email: press@fivb.org
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