Iran and Thailand lined up in the first two places of the final Pool A standings at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in Bahrain and booked the last two tickets to the top eight of the tournament, joining the already qualified Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Italy and Poland. Also in Sunday’s evening session in Manama, Argentina beat Belgium in five sets to finish on top of Pool D. After a day without matches on Monday, the competition will resume with the second pool stage on Tuesday.

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Pool A

In the first Pool A match on Sunday’s programme, Thailand came back from a set down to claim a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-21) victory over Tunisia, leaving the Africans in last place without a win during the first stage of the tournament. It was Thailand’s second victory in the pool, but they could not celebrate a spot among the best eight before finding out the result of the last game in this group. The Tunisians completely outblocked their opponents with 15 stuffs against four, but lagged in all other elements. Their captain Adem Elmeddeb, the Most Valuable Player of the 2023 African Club Championship, was the best scorer of the match with 17 points, including an ace and a block, followed by Thailand’s Jakkrit Thanomnoi with 16.

Once Iran hammered out a 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-19) shutout of hosts Bahrain in the late match, it was clear that they will move forward to the top tier of the second pool stage as unbeaten pool winners along with pool runners-up Thailand. The Iranians left no doubts over their superiority in this duel. Only for a short period halfway through the second set, the home side managed to take the initiative and open up a three-point lead. The bronze medallists of the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship outscored their opponents on all counts, led by opposite Amir Mohammad Golzadeh, MVP of the 2022 U20 Asian Championship, with 16 points, including five aces and a kill block. Captain Husain Ehsan was Bahrain’s most productive player with 12 points.

Pool D

Argentina defeated Belgium in a direct five-set clash between two unbeaten teams for the first place in Pool D to top the final pool standings on a 3-0 win-loss record. The South Americans came back from two sets down to hand the opponents their first defeat of the tournament and celebrate a 3-2 (18-25, 28-30, 25-15, 25-23, 15-9) victory. Two Belgians, captain Ferre Regers, the best scorer of the U19 World Championship in 2021, and outside Pierre Perin, shared the top scorer honours of the match with 18 points apiece, a point clear of two Argentineans, middle Nahuel Garcia and outside Fausto Diaz, a 2022 U19 South American Championship Dream Teamer, who scored 17 points each.

Czechia and United States put up a hard-fought battle for the third place in the pool. The Europeans beat the Americans by 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22) to leave them winless at the end of the first pool stage. To register their first win of the tournament, the Czechs outblocked their opponents, but mostly capitalized on the abundant unforced errors committed by the Americans. USA’s Zachary Rama, the Best Outside Hitter of the 2022 U21 Pan American Cup, was the best scorer of the match with 20 points to his name, while Czech opposite Jakub Pelikan contributed 16 points to his team’s victory, including three aces and two blocks.

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

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