Press release

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9, 2011 – The battle for the medals begins on Tuesday at Maracanazinho Gymnasium of Rio de Janeiro where Argentina meets United States and Russia plays Serbia.
The schedule at the legendary venue also features the semifinal matches for the 5-8 places with Iran facing India and Brazil playing host to Spain.
Meanwhile, the battle for ninth place continues at Caio Martins Gymnasium in Niteroi with the semifinal match between Canada and Germany, followed by the contest between Belgium and Japan.
The winners will compete on Wednesday for ninth place, the best placing still possible for the eight teams competing in Niteroi. The losers will compete for 11th place.
Following the semifinals, four more teams will play to determine the 13th and 15th place finishers.

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

Iran v India

The action opens at Maracanazinho Gymansium at 10:00 a.m. with an All-Asian clash between India and Iran. Both teams are coming off victories in their last outings in the second round. While Iran registered a straight sets win over Spain, the team of India scored a major upset by defeating Brazil in five frames at their own soil. The two sides are bringing identical 3-3 win-loss records. India’s Selvaprabhu Dhanabalan is the fifth best scorer of the event with 91 points, next to Iran’s Amir Ghafour and Pourya Fayazi who are tied for sixth with 89 apiece. The victory over Brazil should be a momentum builder for India but Christopher John, one of their main weapons, left that match with an injured ankle.

Argentina v United States

Argentina and United States meet at 12:30 p.m. for the ticket to the gold medal match. The two teams lost five-set matches in their last contests during the second phase of the competition. Despite the loss to Serbia, the top world-ranked Argentina got the extra point to qualify as the top team of Pool F, while Team USA came up short in a battle against Russia for the first place in Pool E. The South American side enters the semifinal round with a 5-1 record (17-7 in sets) to the 4-2 mark (15-10 in sets) for the American squad.  Ivan Castellani is the leading scorer of Argentina with 87 points (eighth place) while Taylor Sander is the second best of the top-eight group with 122.

Russia v Serbia

The two European teams clash at 4:00 p.m. vying for a place in the title match. Russia have been the most effective of the two squads with a 6-0 record while losing only three sets in the process (one to Germany and two against USA). Serbia (5-1, 15-10 in sets) arrived into the semifinals courtesy of the five-set triumph of India over Brazil last Sunday. Russia won the top honors in Pool E by out dueling United States 3-2 on Sunday while Serbia came back from two sets down to edge Argentina. Aleksandar Atanasijevic leads all the scorers with 146 points and his teammate Uros Kovacevic is fourth with 106. Russia’s Leonid Shchadilov (spiker), Igor Filippov (blocker), Andrey Kolesnik (server), Aleksey Kabeshov (digger) and Dmitry Kovalev (setter) are tops in those categories.

Brazil v Spain

After a disappointing loss to India in the last match of the second round at Maracanazinho Gymnasium, the Brazilians need to bounce back and give their fans something to cheer about in this semifinal match scheduled at 6:30 p. m. for the 5-8 places. The home team had to play five sets in three of their six matches thus far. Meanwhile, Spain slowed down in the second phase by losing three matches where they managed to win only two sets. Ricardo Lucarelli has been the steadiest producer for Brazil with 114 points good for third place in the top scorers list while libero Guilherme Kachel is tops among his peers. Spain´s Jesus Brusque is the competition’s second best setter.

Canada v Germany

Canada and Germany will open the August 9 competition at 10 a.m. local time. Canada has been in Niteroi for the entire tournament while Germany came for the second round. Both teams lost all three of their first-round matches. Canada came back to go 3-0 in the second round  to win Pool G with a 3-0 victory over Japan, a 3-2 win over Tunisia and a 3-2 triumph over Egypt.  Germany finished second in Pool H with a 3-1 win over Puerto Rico, a 3-0 victory over Bulgaria and a 3-2 loss to Belgium. Canada has been led by Nicholas Hoag and Tommy Belisle among others. Germany looks to its team captain Björn Höhne.

Belgium v Japan

Belgium and Japan will pay the second match at 12:30 p.m. at Caio Martins, where Belgium has played it entire tournament while Japan moved over from Rio de Janeiro for the second round. Both teams went 1-2 in the first round with Japan defeating Brazil and Belgium beating Canada. In the second round, Belgium went undefeated with a 3-1 win over Bulgaria, a 3-2 victory over Germany and a 3-0 triumph over Puerto Rico to win Pool H. Japan was second in Pool G with a 2-1 record. It defeated Tunisia and Egypt but fell to Canada. Belgium has been led by its captain, Sam Deroo while Japan’s Takeshi Dekita has consistently been its top scorer.

Puerto Rico v Egypt

Puerto Rico and Egypt will both be fighting for 15th, but as Puerto Rico coach Carlos Rodriguez pointed out, any team that qualified for the World Championships has already won an important victory. The two will play at 4 p.m. Puerto Rico’s lone tournament victory came against Tunisia during play in the first round. It lost to Tunisia on August 8 in the quarterfinals. Egypt defeated Germany in the first round of pool play. But it struggled in the second round, losing two 3-2 matches in two days before falling to Bulgaria in the quarterfinals. Puerto Rico has been led by Steven Morales. Egypt has looked to its captain Idris Moustafa.

Bulgaria v Tunisia

Bulgaria and Tunisia will play the final match of the day at 6:30 p.m. to determine the tournament’s 13th-place finisher. Neither team won a match in the first round. In the second round, Tunisia beat Egypt and Bulgaria topped Puerto Rico. Tunisia defeated Puerto Rico in five sets in the semifinals while Bulgaria topped Egypt in consecutive frames. Tunisia has been led by Mohamed Arbi Ben Abdallah while Bulgaria has looked to Jani Jeliazkov.