With a five-set victory over the Italian giants, the Iranians got a promising start in the tournament
Published 01:40, 11 Dec 2024
Foolad players celebrate their opening-match victory over Lube in Brazil
Reigning Asian champions Foolad Sirjan Iranian caused the biggest upset of the opening day of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship 2024, downing Italian giants Cucine Lube Civitanova on Tuesday in Uberlândia.
Besides the Iranians, Italy’s Itas Trentino, Brazil’s Sada Cruzeiro and Egypt’s Al Ahly SC also triumphed at the Sabiazinho stadium in the first of four days of pool play action in Brazil.
Making just their second appearance in the tournament, Foolad secured their first-ever victory at the world stage, beating the 2019 world champions Lube in a five-set battle that saw they come out on top 3-2 (25-21, 14-25, 24-26, 25-23, 16-14) in Pool A.
The MVP in their campaign at the Asian Championship, opposite Ali Hajipour led the team’s offense with 18 points (16 kills, two blocks). Outside hitter Alireza Abdolhamidi, with 15 points (13 kills, one block, one ace), and middle blocker Mohammad Valizadeh, with 12 (eight kills, two blocks, two aces), also had solid performances.
Hajipour spikes past three Lube blockers
Lube’s French two-time Olympic champion middle blocker Barthélémy Chinenyeze topped all scorers with 21 points (16 kills, three aces, two blocks). Bulgarian outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov and Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija contributed 18 and 17 points, respectively.
“Breaking the ice in an important tournament is always complicated, especially considering the long trip we had,” Chinenyeze reflected. “Our biggest problem today was missing too many serves and swings. Their serves created a lot of problems for us, but we made too many errors and in a match like this, you can’t win like that. But now we know what to do. We have another match on Wednesday, but before looking into our opponents, we need to focus on recalibrating our game.”
In the opening match of the tournament, which featured another duel between Italians and Iranians, five-time world champions Trentino had no issues securing their first victory in Pool B. Helped by a strong start, the Europeans downed Shahdab Yazd 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-21) to start their campaign in Uberlândia.
World champion outside hitters Daniele Lavia, with 12 points (11 kills, one block), and Alessandro Michieletto, with ten (seven kills, two aces, one block), led the Italian victory. Cuban national team middle blocker Javier Concepción scored ten points for Shahdab, with six kills, two blocks and two aces.
“It was a great match from us in a lot of different ways,” Lavia reflected. “We wanted to perform well but it was a challenge because we were coming from some intense road matches and a long trip. It was great that we managed to win in three sets against a team that can be very dangerous with their serves.”
Hosts Brazil also had a mixed day on Tuesday, with one of their two teams competing in Uberlândia winning and the other one losing. Four-time world champions Sada Cruzeiro had a strong debut, coming from behind to beat Argentina’s Ciudad Voley 3-1 (27-29, 25-21, 25-17, 25-22) in a rematch of this year’s South American Club Championship final in Pool B. Outside hitter Rodrigo 'Rodriguinho' Leão led Sada Cruzeiro with 16 points, one more than Olympic champion middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp. Ciudad's opposite Jonas Ponzio topped all scorers, witth 21.
Hosts Praia Clube, on the other hand, dropped their first-ever Club World Championship match in Pool A. They faced African champions Al Ahly and lost 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 27-25). Outside hitters Abdelrhman Elhossiny and Muhammed Asran produced each 16 points for the Egyptian side, four less than the match’s top scorer, Praia’s outside hitter Maicon França.
Wednesday, the second day of the Men’s Club World Championship in Uberlândia, will have four more matches, which could determine the first teams guaranteed in the semifinals. The day will start with the Pool A duel between the undefeated Foolad and Al Ahly at 10:00 local time (13:00 GMT), with Trentino and Ciudad meeting in Pool B at 13:30 local time (16:30 GMT).
Men's Club World Championship - Match Schedule and Results
The third match of the day, reuniting Praia and Lube in Pool A, will begin at 17:00 local time (20:00 GMT). The final encounter, set to start at 20:30 local time (23:30 GMT), will have Sada Cruzeiro facing Shahdab.
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