Russia, Iran in rematch of 2017 final at 2019 Boys' U19 Worlds quarterfinals

Tunis, Tunisia, August 27, 2019 - Russia and Iran have set themselves up for a rematch of the 2017 final when they clash again on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship, while Bulgaria caused a major sensation by knocking out six-times youth world champions Brazil, in the Round of 16 here on Tuesday.

Iran had won that encounter with Russia two years ago in Bahrain in four sets.

They are joined in this year's quarterfinals by Italy, Japan, Belarus, Egypt and Argentina.

Quarterfinals on Wednesday, August 28:
Italy v Japan
Belarus v Egypt
Russia v Iran
Argentina v Bulgaria

Classification 9-16 on Wednesday, August 28:
Chinese Taipei v Korea
Czech Republic v Nigeria
Germany v Cuba
USA v Brazil

Italy became the first side to make the quarterfinals when they defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0 (25-7, 25-17, 25-22) on the back of 17 points each by Tommaso Stefani and Tommaso Rinaldi. The Asian side distinctly lacked the ability to positively finish their rallies - registering a mere 31% (21/67) in attacking efficiency, compared to Italy's impressive 60% (41/68).


Alessandro Michieletto gets patted on the head as Italy celebrate their ticket to the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship in Tunis.

At the same time, Japan were dominating the Asian derby, coming back from a set down to beat Korea 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-17) and set up a quarterfinal matchup against Italy. Daiki Yamada scored the day's overall high with 29 points as Japan completely outblocked (11 stuffs to 4) and outserved (8 aces to 1) their opponents.

Belarus defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-20), taking advantage of as many as 27 unforced errors gifted to them by the Czechs. The Czechs came from behind to tie the first set 22-22, but a sideout on a kill by Yauheni Hretski followed by a block by Dzmitry Dyleuski on Jiri Mikulenka gave Belarus the two-point advantage they needed to go one set up with a cross-court strike by Uladzislau Babkevich. Babkevich was Belarus' top scorer with 20 points, but the match high was posted by Mikulenka with 22.


Belarus celebrate after their sweep of the Czech Republic in the Round of 16 to make the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship in Tunis.

Belarus will now be playing Egypt in the quarterfinals, after the 'Pharaohs' overwhelmed Nigeria 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 29-27) in the African derby. Nigeria could well have extended the game to at least four sets, had they capitalised on three set balls at 21-24 in the third. But Egypt made a 4-0 run to go ahead 25-24, cancelled another set point of Nigeria at 26-27 and took the game with another 3-0 run on a kill by Marawan Elnaggar, an attacking error by Johnpaul 'Paul' Ternamdoo Anshungu and a block by Eyad Mohamed on Paul. Marawan led the scoring for Egypt with a match high of 19.

The 2017 silver medallists Russia totally overpowered Germany 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-20) for their ticket to the quarterfinals. Germany tried to react in the second set keeping up in the score, but that only lasted until 21-20, when Russia made a break with three kills from Omar Kurbanov and a block by Iurii Brazhniuk on Simon Torwie to complete a 4-0 run and bring the set home.

Once again it was Russia's serving that sealed the deal - the German reception struggling to deal with it an conceding a total of 12 aces (five by Ilya Kazachenkov alone). Kurbanov finished with a match high of 17 points overall.


Roman Murashko hits over the block of Germany's Julian Hoyer and Melf Urban as he guides Russia to the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship in Tunis.

With Iran sweeping Cuba 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-22), this set up a rematch of the 2017 Boys' U19 final. It took Iran two match balls to finish the second set on a kill by Bardia Saadat, though Cuba never got a shot at drawing level.

Missing their top scorer Amir Hossein Toukhteh who was injured in the first rally of their previous match against Italy and for whom his teammates held up his shirt during the national anthems, Iran had Saadat scoring the match high of 23 points, as Toukhteh watched on from the stands.


Iran players during the national anthems in the match against Cuba hold up the shirt of their injured team mate Amir Hossein Toukhteh who had to watch the match from the stands.

There was never an inkling of doubt as to who was in charge of the game as Argentina crushed USA 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-14) in just over an hour to advance to the quarterfinals of the competition. The South Americans produced some great blocking (four out of ten from Agustin Gallardo) and digging, but also pushed USA to make 26 unforced errors, as Wilson Acosta bagged 12 points and Tomas Capogrosso added another 10 - though top scorer of the game was USA's Alexander Knight with 14.


Argentina celebrate their win over USA for a ticket to the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship in Tunis.

Bulgaria wrapped up the day's knockout matches with an astonishing and well-deserved 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 25-21, 15-6) win that now sees the Balkan side face Argentina on Wednesday.

With the two sides neck-and-neck in the first set, Bulgaria got a very late break to go ahead by two at 24-22 to seal it on a service error by Darlan Ferreira. And they could well have gone two sets up if they'd converted a set point at 24-23 in the second, before Brazil came back to draw level on back-to-back attacks by Adriano Fernandes, Paulo Ferreira and Nathan Mota.

The tie-break was a whitewash as Bulgaria sprinted off to a 7-0 lead from which Brazil could never recover.

Samuil Valchinov scored 20 points and Todor Dimitrov contributed 17 more. No amount of shifting the team around by coach Preturlon Ribeiro, who used every single one of his players, could solve the problems posed to Brazil by Bulgaria.


Bulgaria celebrate their huge upset win over Brazil to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship in Tunis.

Tunisia, Mexico take advantage in 17-20 pool
Tunisia shut out the Dominican Republic 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 26-24) in the round robin pool for positions 17-20, with coach Ameur Nasraoui bringing on his reserves during the second set and for the remainder of the game. Aymen Bougerra was top scorer of the game with 19 points for the hosts.

Mexico followed suit, coming back from a set down at 1-2 to beat Colombia 3-2 (25-23, 14-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-11) for their first win in the tournament. Luis Hernandez top-scored for Mexico with 15 points, though Colombia's Jharold Caicedo had the match high with 16.

Summary Statistics - 2019 FIVB Boys' U19 World Championship

Highest Scorer by Day
23 – Simon Torwie of Germany v Egypt (2-3) on August 21
33 – Joung Hanyong of Korea v USA (3-1) on August 22
29 – Abdelrahman Elhossiny Jr of Egypt v Japan (3-2) on August 23
22 – Bardia Saadat of Iran v Colombia (3-1) on August 24
25 – Simon Torwie of Germany v Mexico (3-2) on August 25
25 – Uladzislau Babkevich of Belarus v Cuba (3-1) on August 25
25 – Manuel Armoa of Argentina v Japan (3-1) on August 25
29 – Daiki Yamada of Japan v Korea (3-1) on August 27

Top Scoring Performances
33 – Joung Hanyong of Korea v USA (3-1) on August 22
31 – Darlan Ferreira of Brazil v Cuba (2-3) on August 22
29 – Abdelrahman Elhossiny Jr of Egypt v Japan (3-2) on August 23
29 – Daiki Yamada of Japan v Korea (3-1) on August 27
27 – Amir Hossein Toukhteh of Iran v Bulgaria (3-1) on August 22
27 – Daiki Yamada of Japan v Egypt (2-3) on August 23
26 – Joung Hanyong of Korea v Russia (1-3) on August 23
25 – Simon Torwie of Germany v Mexico (3-2) on August 25
25 – Uladzislau Babkevich of Belarus v Cuba (3-1) on August 25
25 – Manuel Armoa of Argentina v Japan (3-1) on August 25

Top Individual Blocking Performances
8 – Aponza Leiner of Colombia v Iran (1-3) on 24 August
6 – Dzmitry Dyleuski of Belarus v Chinese Taipei (3-2) on August 21
6 – Nicola Cianciotta of Italy v Bulgaria (3-2) on August 21
6 – Alessandro Gianotti of Italy v Czech Republic (3-0) on August 22
6 – Gustavo Andre of Brazil v Cuba (2-3) on August 22
6 – Omar 'Sherif' Deigham of Egypt v Japan (3-2) on August 23
6 – Jan Kolakowski of Germany v Argentina (3-1) on August 23
6 – Nicola Cianciotta of Italy v Iran (3-1) on August 25
6 – Paolo Porro of Italy v Iran (3-1) on August 25
6 – Rayshon Nehemiah Jackman of Chinese Taipei v Brazil on August 25

Top Individual Serving Performances
8 – Lucas Lima of Brazil v Chinese Taipei (3-0) on August 25
7 – Elyes Bouachir of Tunisia v Belarus (3-2) on August 22
7 – Roman Murashko of Russia v USA (3-0) on August 25
6 – Aliaksandr Piatrevich of Belarus v Chinese Taipei (3-2) on August 21
6 – Alessandro Michieletto of Italy v Bulgaria (3-2) on August 21

Top Team Blocking Performances
17 – Bulgaria v Colombia (3-1) on August 25
17 – Italy v Bulgaria (3-2) on August 21
16 – Cuba v Brazil (3-2) on August 22
16 – Italy v Iran (3-1) on August 25
15 – Belarus v Chinese Taipei (3-2) on August 21
15 – Italy v Czech Republic (3-0) on August 22
15 – Brazil v Cuba (2-3) on August 22

Top Team Serving Performances
15 – Tunisia v Belarus (3-2) on August 22
14 – Russia v Dominican Republic (3-0) on August 22
13 – Russia v Korea (3-1) on August 23
13 – Russia v Nigeria (3-0) on August 24
12 – Brazil v Chinese Taipei (3-0) on August 25

12 – Russia v Germany (3-0) on August 27

Highest Scoring Sets
31-29 – United States v Dominican Republic (2nd Set) on August 21
30-28 – Nigeria v Dominican Republic (2nd set) on August 25
29-27 – Egypt v Nigeria (3rd set) on August 27
28-26 – Nigeria v Korea (2nd set) on August 21
28-26 – Belarus v Tunisia (4th set) on August 22
28-26 – Chinese Taipei v Tunisia (2nd set) on August 24

Highest Scoring Matches
236 – Cuba v Brazil 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18, 27-25) on August 22
216 – Tunisia v Belarus 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-12) on August 22
209 – Bulgaria v Brazil 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 25-21, 15-6) on August 27
206 – Egypt v Germany 3-2 (17-25, 27-25, 25-17, 13-25, 17-15) on August 21
203 – Germany v Mexico 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 14-25, 15-12) on August 25
202 – Egypt v Japan 3-2 (25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 15-25, 15-10) on August 23

Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship - Tunisia 2019
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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