Argentina and Belgium secured the top two spots in the Pool D final standings at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in Bahrain as they achieved their second wins in Manama on Saturday to join Brazil and Italy from Pool B, and Poland and Bulgaria from Pool C into the top-eight tier for the second stage of the tournament. The two teams will meet head to head on Sunday for the top of the pool table. In Pool A, Thailand recorded their first win of the tournament by edging hosts Bahrain in five sets to leave the pool wide open ahead of Sunday’s third-leg matches, with all four teams holding shots at advancement, but none qualified just yet.

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Pool A

Tunisia were well on their way to stunning Iran in the first Pool A match of the day. The Africans won the first two sets of their game against the bronze medallists of the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship, but the Asians mounted a big comeback to celebrate a 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-11) victory. Tunisia showed some great blocking and tallied 16 stuffs during the match, seven of which were authored by middle blocker Mahdi Ben Tahar. Iranian opposite Amir Mohammad Golzadeh, MVP of the 2022 U20 Asian Championship, fired four aces towards the match high of 28 points, while Khaled Bouallegue led Tunisia with 22.

Thailand and hosts Bahrain also engaged in a five-set battle. At the end of the first set, the Thais scored five points in a row at a triple Bahraini set point (24-21) to take the lead. The home team battled their way back in the next two sets to step in front, but Thailand leveled it back after a comfortable win in set four. After a tough tie-breaker, the boys from South East Asia could celebrate a 3-2 (26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-12) success. Thailand’s blocking (15 stuffs against six) made the big difference in the game. Their middle Chutiphong Muangkao excelled with five kill blocks towards a 12-point tally. Outside Jakkrit Thanomnoi led all scorers with 27 points, including two stuffs. He registered a 57% success rate in attack. Bahrain’s outside Sayed Hashem Ali led his team’s scorers with 24 points, including four aces and two blocks.

Pool D

Czechia emerged victorious from a rollercoaster first set against Argentina, but then the South Americans worked their way back through the next three to earn a hard-fought 3-1 (24-26, 25-18, 27-25, 25-23) win. While the Europeans outblocked and outaced their opponents, it was the unforced errors that made the big difference in the match. Two 2022 South American U21 Championship Dream Teamers led Argentina to success. Opposite German Gomez topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 17 points, all in spikes, while middle Imanol Salazar impressed with five kill blocks towards a 12-point tally. Outside Jan Krca was Czechia’s most productive player with 16 points, including an ace.

While United States clearly dominated one of the sets of their match against Belgium, they made their European opponents work hard for taking the other three. In the end, the Belgians celebrated a 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 25-20) victory, mostly thanks to their better serving. Jippe Schoeven authored three of the team’s eight aces in the game to finish with a total of 10 points, second to captain Ferre Reggers, the best scorer of the U19 World Championship in 2021, who produced the match high of 21 points, including two blocks and an ace. Opposite Shane Wetzel and Zachary Rama, the Best Outside Hitter of the 2022 U21 Pan American Cup, made 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Americans.

2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship: full schedule and results

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