Twenty-year-old Zyad Osama Mohamed led Egypt to earn their first win in the 2023 FIVB Volleyball U21 Men’s World Championship in Manama, Bahrain.

The left-handed opposite helped his team with 15 points to beat Mexico 3-1 (25-13, 25-20, 17-25, 25-15) on Sunday, after falling short matches against powerhouses Italy and Brazil, respectively.

“The first win of the tournament is always a good feeling, and it is good for the morale of my teammates. I am so proud of them. We lost the first two matches, so we really gave our best in this match. I hope this won’t be the last,” he stated after the match.

“Brazil and Italy are top teams in the world. But we played Mexico today with good tactics. We played a good level by knowing how to stop them on defence and knowing how to work on our offence. We really wanted to earn this win because we did our best today.”

As the captain of the team, apart from taking matters into his hands on offence, he tried to motivate his teammates to perform their best against Mexico.

“We had a meeting in my room yesterday. We talked about losing two matches and how we should adjust our game against Mexico. I told them that even if we have another difficult opponent, we have to have good spirit to win. And my teammates did just that today,” he said.

As for his own motivation in the match, his idol, legendary Egyptian lefty Ahmed Abdelhay Salah provided him that encouragement to be at his best against the Mexican team.

“My favourite player is Ahmed Abdelhay Salah. He’s an opposite like me. He wears No. 4 that’s why I also wear the same number. For me he’s the best player. We actually play in the same club. He’s the starter and I am his substitute,” the young opposite said.

“He called me yesterday and lifted my spirit and inspired me to win today’s match. He told me to do my best and that he believes that I could do it. I love him so much.”

Ahmed Abdelhay is one of the best players in Egyptian volleyball history. He competed at two Olympic Games – Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016 – and in three editions of the World Championships. He was named as Best Spiker of the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Japan. He currently plays for Egyptian club Al Ahly.

Zyad Osama is benefitting from playing with this Egyptian volleyball great, but the young Egyptian captain also commends the efforts of their national federation in providing the youth and junior levels an opportunity to compete at a high level.

“We go to three to four competitions in a year. We have the African Championship, World Cup and then we also play two friendly tournaments before the African Championship and the World Cup. It’s good to gain good results through these competitions.”

2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship: Full Schedule

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