Press release

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 3, 2011 – India, United States, Iran and Brazil completed the group of the top-eight teams in competition for three spots on the podium in the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship at Maracanazinho Gymasium of Rio de Janeiro starting on Friday. The sides of Russia, Argentina, Spain and Serbia had secured their spots one day earlier.
India clinched its place with a 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 victory over Egypt in a decisive match of Pool C and United States claimed its berth after defeating Japan 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19 in Pool A. Iran eliminated Belgium’s chances of advancing with a 25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17 triumph in Pool D and Brazil grabbed the last berth with a five-set victory over Bulgaria 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8 in Pool A.
Thursday will be a transfer day with teams moving from Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro and vice versa.

Pool composition for the 1-8 positions is as follows:
Pool E: United States, Spain, Russia and Iran.
Pool F: Argentina, Brazil, Serbia and India.

Pool composition for the 9-16 positions is as follows:
Pool G: Japan, Tunisia, Egypt and Canada
Pool H: Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Belgium and Germany

Live scoring, results, news and photos on FIVB Volleyball Men's Junior World Championship Brazil 2011.

Pool A

USA 3, Japan 1

In a deciding match for both sides, the United States played better and defeated Japan on Wednesday 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19) to secure their spot in the top second round of the tournament.
American outside hitter Taylor Sander led all scorers of the match with 23 points. Taylor Crabb and Dylan Davis each collected 11 points and Eric Mochalski added 10. Japanese opposite Takashi Dekita and middle blocker Yamato Fushimi charted 19 and 15 to their side respectively. The winners out blocked the defeated side 13-2.

Brazil 3, Bulgaria 2

Defending Champion Brazil won its second straight match at home and reached the second round of the tournament as the home boys won a thrilling five-set battle against Bulgaria by score of 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8.
Brazilian wing spiker Ricardo Lucarelli led the winners with 20 points followed by Eduardo Loh with 15. Rafael Martins had 13 and Bernardo Reitz tallied 11 points. Nikolay Penchev finished with 20 for Bulgaria while Ventsislav Trifonof and Jani Jeliazvov added 17 and 16 respectively.

Pool B

Argentina 3, Spain 1

Argentina won their third match and took first place in Pool B at Caio Martins Gymnasium on Wednesday morning with a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 25-8) victory over Spain. Spain (2-1) and Argentina (3-0) were already qualified for the next round to determine first through eighth places in Rio de Janeiro, but the dispute for first place in Pool B was the reason for a good game. Spain’s captain Jorge Almansa led all scorers with 17 points on a match-high 16 attacks and one block. Gustavo Alvarez paced Argentina with 16 points on nine spikes, a match-high five blocks and two service aces. Augustin Ramonda and Martin Ramos each added 15 points for Argentina.

Puerto Rico 3, Tunisia 2

Puerto Rico scored its first three points by defeating Tunisia, 3-2 (20-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11) Wednesday afternoon. Puerto Rico (1-2) got its first match victory of the tournament and scored two points while Tunisia (0-3) scored its first point with the 2-3 loss.
Steven Morales proved to be one of the best players of the competition, and was the best of the match, scoring 27 points, as 22 attacks, two blocks and three serves. On the Tunisian side, Mohammed Arbi was the best, with 19 points, 16 attacks and three blocks.

Pool C

India 3, Egypt 0

Seventh world-ranked India clinched the second spot of Pool C to the second round of FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship 2011 following a convincing 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-18) victory over Egypt.
India's opposite Dhanabalan Selvaprabhu topped all the scorers with 15 points, followed by G.R. Vaishnav, who scored 13, six of them in impressive blocks, and T.D. Ravikumar with 11. For the Egyptian side the opposite Eslam El Hassan finished with 11 tallies.

Russia 3, Germany 1

Youth and Junior second world-ranked Russia assured the first position of Pool C by outdueling Germany 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23). Already qualified for the second round, Russia reached nine points leaving behind India, with six, Egypt, with three, and Germany, with zero.
In the All-European clash the top scorer was Russian outside hitter Oleg Tsentalovich, with 17 points, while teammate Igor Filippov added 14 and the tandem of Andrey Kolesnik and Leonid Shchadilov each had 13 for the winning side. German opposite Paul Sprung also scored 14 points.

Pool D

Iran 3, Belgium 1

Iran secured a slot among the top eight teams that will compete in Rio de Janeiro with a 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17) victory over Belgium. Iran improved its record to 2-1 for second place in Pool D behind Serbia, while Belgium (1-2) will remain in Niteroi to compete for ninth through 16th place.
Amir Ghafour and Pourya Fayazi concluded the match with 17 and 15 points respectively for the Iranian team. Belgium’s Sam Deroo had a match-high 19 points while Francois Lecat added 16 including five blocks, and Ben Ponnet chipped in with 10 tallies.

Serbia 3, Canada 2

Serbia edged Canada in a five-setter 25-17, 19-25, 25-15, 21-25, 15-4 to maintain first place of the pool ahead of Iran. The Serbians held an 8-2 in service aces while Canada had a 17-8 advanatge in blocks.
Serbia’s Aleksandar Atanasijevic and Uros Kovacevic both finished with 23 points to lead the winners while Srecko Lisinac and Vuk Milutinovic contributed 10 points apiece. Tristan Aubry and Nicholas Hoag each registered 16 points for Canada while Tommy Belisle and Lucas Van Berkel each charted 12 with Van Berkel totaling 8 blocks.

Highest Scorer by Day

Day 1 (August 1): 31 points by Simon Hirsch (Germany) in the 3-1 loss to India
Day 2 (August 2): 47 points by Takashi Dekita (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Bulgaria
Day 3 (August 3) 27 points by Steven Morales (Puerto Rico) in the 3-2 victory over Tunisia

Top Scoring Performances

47 – Takashi Dekita (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Bulgaria on August 2
38 – Aleksandar Atanasijevic (Serbia) in the 3-2 victory over Iran on August 2
31 – Simon Hirsch (Germany) in the 3-1 loss to India on August 1
27 – Takashi Dekita (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Brazil on August 1
27 – Steven Morales (Puerto Rico) in the 3-2 victory over Tunisia on August 3
 
Top Blocking Performances

11- Mohamed El Askolany (Egypt) in the 3-1 victory over Germany on August 2
8 – Lucas Van Berkel (Canada) in the 3-2 loss to Serbia on August 3
7 – Ventsislav Ragin (Bulgaria) in the 3-2 loss to Japan on August 2
6 – G.R. Vaishnav (India) in the 3-0 victory over Egypt on August 3
5 – Igor Filippov (Russia) in the 3-0 victory over Egypt on August 1
5 -  Srecko Lisinac (Serbia) in the 3-0 victory over Belgium on August 1
5 – Fushimi Yamato (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Bulgaria on August 2
5 – Gustavo Vaca (Argentina) in the 3-1 victory over Spain on August 3
5 – Dmitry Kovalev (Russia) in the 3-1 victory over Germany on August 3
5 -  Oscar Klingner (Germany) in the 3-1 loss to Russia on August 3
5 – Francois Lescat (Belgium) in the 3-1 loss to Iran on August 3
 
Top Service Ace Performances

4 – Andrey Kolesnik (Russia) in the 3-0 victory over India on August 2
4 – Uros Kovacevic (Serbia) in the 3-2 victory over Iran on August 2
3 – Andrey Kolesnik (Russia) in the 3-0 victory over Egypt on August 1
3 – Jorge Lopez (Puerto Rico) in the 3-1 loss to Argentina on August 1
3 – Hatem Obba (Tunisia) in the 3-1 loss to Spain on August 1
3 – Yamato Fushimi (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Brazil on August 1
3 – Steve Morales (Puerto Rico) in the 3-2 victory over Tunisia on August 3
3 – Hatem Obba (Tunisia) in the 3-2 loss to Puerto Rico on August 3

Highest Set Score

33-31 (Japan versus Bulgaria) in first round on August 2 in Rio de Janeiro
30-28 (Serbia versus Iran) in first round on August 2 in Niteroi
26-24 (Egypt versus Germany) in first round on August 2 in Rio de Janeiro
26-24 (Germany versus Russia) in first round on August 3 in Rio de Janeiro

Highest Scoring Matches