India hammered out their first win at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in Bahrain on Thursday and it proved sufficient for a spot in the third-tier foursome, along with Canada, Czechia and Egypt, that will distribute the places from ninth to 12^th in the final standings of the tournament.

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Pool G

L'India ha ottenuto la prima vittoria del torneo e si è preparata per un possibile avanzamento alle semifinali per la distribuzione dei posti dal nono al dodicesimo, a seconda dell'ultima partita della Pool G che si terrà giovedì. Le indiane hanno sconfitto la Tunisia con un netto 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-13). Il loro abituale high scorer Aman Kumar ha firmato 18 punti, tutti in attacco, mentre il centrale Sachin Dagar ha impressionato con sei blocchi di kills per un totale di 12 punti. L'unico altro giocatore a raggiungere la doppia cifra in questa partita è stato il compagno di squadra Tanish Choudhary, che ha messo a segno nove punti in battuta, un ace e un kill block.

Canada showed no mercy for Bahrain, who had a shot at overtaking India for the second place in the pool, and defeated the home team by . Spearheaded by Sayed Hashem Ali, the Bahrainis put up quite a battle, especially in the third set, which they won deep in the overtime, but will have to join the weekend race for the 13^th place in the final standings. Ali registered the match high of 20 points, followed by his teammate and captain Husain Ehsan with 15. Spencer Grahame was Canada’s leading scorer with 14 points, the best of five players on the North American squad to reach the double digits in the game. Canada topped the pool unbeaten in three matches played.

Pool H

In a head-to-head clash between two winless teams, Mexico celebrated their first victory of the tournament, over their North American neighbours United States. Both teams will continue their participation in the World Championship in the matches for the distribution of the places from 13^th to 16^th in the final standings. Actually, the Americans did better than the Mexicans in attack and especially in blocking (12 stuffs against six), but the abundant unforced errors prevented them from taking something more than a set in this game. Jorge Hernandez Cabrera led the winners with 17 points, followed by Ramon Gonzalez Castro with 12, including two aces. USA’s Dillon Klein delivered the match high of 20 points. His teammates Zachary Rama with 15 points and Alexander Rottman with 12 were the other two players to reach the double digits in scoring.

Czechia produced a victory over Egypt in a direct duel for the first place in Pool H and finished unbeaten on top of the pool standings. Both the Czechs and pool runners-up Egypt, who finished on a 2-1 win-loss record, will continue in the race for the distribution of the places from ninth to 12^th in the final World Championship standings. Czech opposite David Kollator nailed five aces and raised three stuffs towards the match high of 25 points. His teammate Jiri Benda added another 17 points towards the victory, including two aces and three kill blocks. Captain Zyad Mohamed led Egypt with 20 points, followed by Abdelrahman Mohammmed with 12 and Hamza Awad with 11.

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

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