Boys' U19 World Championship 2023 - News.

Korea (KOR) vs. Argentina (ARG) - Eight finals #6333828

Korea disappointed the home crowd in San Juan in a five-set thriller

Bulgaria, Iran and Korea persevered through tough five-set battles in their FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship eighthfinals against Brazil, Serbia and Argentina, respectively, on Tuesday to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Belgium, Egypt, France, Italy and United States also progressed to the best eight of the tournament to continue their quest for planetary honours.

In the last eighthfinal of the day, in front of a full house of home fans on the stands, Korea produced a upset of hosts Argentina, the number four team in the FIVB U19 Boys’ World Ranking. The home team heavily outplayed their opponents in blocking (15 stuffs against eight) and serving (six aces against one), but also committed far too many unforced errors to tilt the outcome Korea’s way.

In the deciding set, the Asians broke away on captain Yun Seojin’s turn to serve with seven points in a row to gain an 8-1 lead and then fought off all Argentinean efforts for a comeback. Lee Woojin put away the match winner to finish the match with 17 points, three short of Korea’s leading scorer Yun Gyeong. It was Argentina’s Fausto Diaz, however, who delivered the match high of 27 points, including two aces and three blocks.

On Wednesday, at 21:00 local time (midnight UTC), Korea will take on Italy in a duel for a spot in the semis. In their eighthfinal, the Italians managed a shutout of Japan with a 13-point match high from captain Lorenzo Magliano.

Bulgarian setter and captain Simeon Nikolov fired as many as seven aces towards his team’s victory over Brazil. The world’s number one U19 team overcame the South Americans’ solid blocking performance and the 30-point scoring spree of opposite Bryan Lucas Alves da Silva to dominate in offence, in precision and especially in serving (nine aces against two) to celebrate a spot in the quarterfinals.

Opposite Kristian Titriyski was Bulgaria’s leading scorer, with 24 points to his name, including an ace and two blocks. Outside hitter Aleksandar Kandev added another 18, while playmaker Simeon Nikolov finished with 11.

Bulgaria (BUL) vs. Brazil (BRA) - Eight finals #6328251

Bulgaria’s Titriyski swings past the Brazilian block

Nei quarti di finale di mercoledì, meno di 15 ore dopo il loro epico ottavo di finale, la Bulgaria incontrerà gli Stati Uniti alle 11:00 ora locale (14:00 UTC). Gli americani sono arrivati a questa fase del torneo dopo aver spazzato via 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-17) il loro ottavo di finale contro Porto Rico. Finn Kearney degli Stati Uniti è stato il miglior marcatore della partita con 13 punti, tra cui tre ace e tre blocchi.

La Serbia ha compiuto un valoroso sforzo per sconvolgere la seconda squadra al mondo, l'Iran, e si è portata in vantaggio due volte nel loro incontro, ma per due volte gli asiatici sono riusciti a rimontare e alla fine si sono imposti con una vittoria per 3-2 (11-25, 25-19, 24-26, 25-18, 15-12).

Sebbene i risultati dei blocchi e dei servizi delle due squadre siano stati relativamente equilibrati e i serbi abbiano commesso meno errori non forzati, è stato l'attacco iraniano ben distribuito a fare la differenza nell'incontro. Cinque giocatori iraniani hanno raggiunto la doppia cifra nel punteggio, tre dei quali hanno guidato il gioco con 14 punti ciascuno. Il mediano Armin Ghelichniazi ha ottenuto tre blocchi di kills, che si aggiungono ai suoi 11 punti di successo, tra cui il vincitore della partita. Il suo compagno di squadra Taha Behboudnia ha avuto due punti e 12 punti in attacco, mentre l'opposto Mohammadreza Alejalil ha messo a segno due ace, 11 uccisioni in attacco e un blocco di uccisioni. I serbi Nikola Brboric, Luka Stepanovic e Ignjat Dopudj hanno guidato la classifica dei punteggi con 19, 18 e 17 punti, rispettivamente.

In a quarterfinal match-up set to start at 18:00 local time (21:00 UTC), Iran will face Belgium. In a hard-fought all-European eighthfinal, the Belgians celebrated a win over Slovenia. Eliot De Vleeschhauwer led the winners with 20 points, while Slovenia’s Luka Marovt delivered the match high of 24.

In the remaining quarterfinal clash, France will play against Egypt at 14:00 local time (17:00 UTC). On Tuesday, Egypt claimed a win over Colombia with a 20-point contribution from opposite Shrief Helawy, while France mastered a blowout of Mexico, with Adrien Roure leading the way with 12 points.

In the lower bracket, for the distribution of the places from ninth to 16th in the final standings, also on Wednesday, Puerto Rico will meet Brazil, Mexico will face Colombia, Serbia will play Slovenia and Japan will challenge Argentina.

Meanwhile, India edged forward in the race for the 17th place with a shutout of Chile.