 |
Menu
|
|
|
New Page 1
2005 Youth Boys'
Under 19 World Championship
Algiers & Oran,
24 August – 1 September 2005
The latest 2005 Youth Boys'
Under 18 World Championships news |
|
|
More
Youth Boys' World Championship News
|
|
|
|
Hosts lose as favorites show
consistency
 Algiers, Algeria, August 24,
2005 - In a day full of thrills
and exciting matches the defending champions Brazil and all
the favoured teams had comfortable victories on the opening
day
of the ninth Boys U-19 World Championship here in Algiers
and Oran. Defeating Argentina in straight sets, Brazil
showed their consistency from the start with Russia, France,
and Slovakia. Poland and Egypt both had very difficult
victories over the emerging Indians and the hosts Algeria in five sets.
Pic: Hosts Algeria lost to Egypt in five
sets
Algeria couldn't use the home crowd and the
excited spectators in Harcha hall in their match against the
near African neighbors Egypt in pool A as they lost narrowly
in a tiebreaker after the most exciting match in the
competition opening (16-25, 25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 15-6).
Algeria used the disturbed state of the Egyptian players to
have the lead in sets and making the Egyptians searching for
recovery till the African Champions used their spike
services in the tie break to win the match. The Egyptian
coach, Sherif Elshemerly asked his players to use the strong
spike service in the tiebreak to claim the difficult victory.
"We didn't play well today although we defeated the
organizers because the stars of my team were disturbed by
the home spectators" said Elshemerly.
In the same pool Slovakia showed their talent with masterly skill to win their match against Korea in straight
sets 25-23, 25-18, 25-22. Wing spiker
Milan Bencz and his colleague Martin Vasko showed their full
talent with some incredible spikes to control the match for their team against
the shorter Korean players. "We had video tapes for the
Korean team in the Asian qualification and this allowed us
to know how fast they play and thus we controlled the match"
Slovakia coach Jaroslav Vlk said after the match.
In pool B, Mexico didn't arrive before the
competition due to Visa and flight travel problems and they
were considered losers against Bulgaria 0-3 (0-25, 0-25,
0-25) in their first match according to the regulations. The
Mexican team announced that they will arrive on Wednesday to play their second match
on Thursday against Argentina.
Brazil used the artistry of their superstars Jose Santos
and Wanderson Campos (11 points) to clinch their first victory over neighbors Argentina 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-21) in their
first match.
"I think we didn't play our best in this match because
the opening matches are usually very tough" said Brazil
head coach Oncken Percy.
"We came here as favorites and
this put stress on my players before the match. This
victory will put us on the right way towards the title but
we have to take care of all our opponents, especially the
strong teams here like Russia, Iran, India and Argentina."
Argentina head coach Fabian Muraco was confident in
spite of the defeat. "We played against a strong team in
the opening and this didn't allow us to apply our strategy.
Our chances of qualifying are still high but we have to
work hard to reach the quarterfinals."
In one of the exciting matches of the day Poland pulled
off a difficult victory over the emerging Indian team 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25, 15-7) in Pool C in
the Boutlelis hall in Oran. The match star and
best scorer with 24 points, Jakub Jarosz of Poland, led his
team with efficient spikes and blocks coming out of the
match as best spiker, blocker and server.
In the same pool the experienced Italian team beat
Canada easily in 68 minutes. Rocco Baroni, Giamomo Bellei
and Gabriele Maruotti led their team to win in straight sets
25-19, 25-20, 25-22.
The steady Russian team performance didn't let Iran,
one of the favorites for the competition, to breath as they
clinched an easier than expected victory in straight sets
25-16, 25-17, 25-21 in Pool D in Oran. The Russian captain,
Konstantin Lesik was the top scorer of the match with 13
points scored and the man of the match.
France found it easy to claim victory over the African
runner's up Tunisia 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-20) with Nicolas Marechal and Emmanuel
Ragondet the stars of the show. |
|
|
Competition Formula
