Women’s U21 World Championship draw to be streamed live on Friday

The 16 participating teams in the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U21 World Championship will find out their opponents for the first pool stage of the tournament on Friday, May 12, when the drawing of lots takes place in Leon, one of the host cities in Mexico. Starting at 11:00 local time (17:00 UTC), the ceremony will be streamed live on the Volleyball World YouTube channel.

In comparison to previous editions, the FIVB adjusted the age requirements for the junior women’s World Championships from U20 to U21 in order to align them with the equivalent men’s competition. This means that someone like talented Serbian middle blocker Hena Kurtagic, who earned U20 silver and Dream Team nominations at both the U20 and the U18 World Championships in 2021, or another U20 Dream Teamer, outside Jolien Knollema of the Netherlands, will be able to compete again, as the 22nd edition of the junior women’s World Championship takes place in Leon and Aguascalientes from August 17 through 26 of this year.

So will Italy’s opposite Giulia Viscioni and libero Emma Barbero, silver medallists from the Dream Team of the U18 World Championship in 2021 (also in Mexico), who can return to the Latin American country to defend the title their compatriots claimed at the U20 event two years ago. Poland and Türkiye will join Italy, Serbia and the Netherlands as the European representatives among the 16 to compete in Mexico. The host country team will be one of four NORCECA squads at the tournament, along with Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the United States, whose line-up is likely to feature 2021 U18 Dream Teamer Mckenna Wucherer.

Six-time champions and 13-time medallists Brazil will be joined by Argentina in representing South America, while three-time champions and 12-time medallists China, alongside Japan and Thailand, will be the Asian teams in Leon and Aguascalientes. Egypt and Tunisia, on the other hand, will defend Africa’s honour at the U21 World Championship.

The 16 teams will be drawn into four single round-robin pools of four, with hosts Mexico leading Pool A. The top two teams from each pool will continue the tournament in the top-eight bracket, consisting of another two single round-robin pools of four, whose winners and runners-up will advance to the semifinals, while the teams placed third and fourth will progress in the playoff matches for distribution of the places from fifth to eighth. The teams, who finish third and fourth in their pools during the first phase of the tournament, will continue competing for distribution of the places from ninth to sixteenth in the final standings, following a similar formula.

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