Iran topped the chart in Pool G after winning over Thailand on the last day of second-round play. In a battle for the first place in the, the Asian team proved better in straight sets. Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt recorded their first victory at the U21 World Championship, a four-set win over Morocco. Both Egypt and Morocco will play in the playoffs for 12th place.
Men's U21 World Championship 2021
Iran first in Pool G
Egypt with first victory
Published 07:54, 29 Sept 2021
By opening the match against Egypt in their favour, Morocco recorded their first set win of the World Championship. As shown in their previous matches, the Egyptians started better, but then lost their rhythm after the 20th point. The players of Hany Mostata showed lack of attention to the details. However, Egypt came back in the match, taking the second set, not leaving any chances to Morocco. A point-for-point race marked the third set (15-15), but with Omar Deigham on the serve, Egypt were able to emerge victorious. Feeling more secure, the Egyptians were then able to control the last set and celebrate their first victory of the championship.
Stilli Ilyass of Morocco finished as top scorer, hammering as many as 24 points, while Elnaggar Marwan was above all for the winners with 22 points. Overall, Egypt dominated on all counts, except the serve where Morocco were slightly better with six aces against Egypt's five.
“Morocco are a good team, we had a tough game. We suffered a lot from our errors. In the first set, we were not focused enough, but after that we said to each other that we had to win, and I am happy that we could do it," Omar Deigham, middle blocker of Egypt, told Volleyball World.
Iran controlled the game since the very beginning of the match, taking the first set with a comfortable margin of seven points. The 2019 champions kept performing better, dominating completely in attack, while Thailand were seizing on their opponents’ errors. Thailand put up a fight in the third set, and were close to taking it at 20-19, but some good plays in attacking by Amir Toukhteh put an end to the discussion.
Overall, Iran were better on all counts, finishing with as many as 20 more successful attacks (48 to 28). Hossein Amir Toukhteh finished as the best scorer with 17 points, while his teammate Saadat Bardia added 16.
“It wasn’t a difficult match, because we analyzed the Thai team and their combinations very well and we knew their weak spots. I hope that we will deliver very good performances in the next matches, because Iran are a strong team,” Ramezani Younes, setter of Iran, told Volleyball World.
