Gutierrez leads Cuba, China take last spot in Men's U21 top eight

Russia and USA already knew their positions in the final Pool B standings as their game started, but they put on a great effort, which resulted in a 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) victory for the Russians, who finished on top of the pool without dropping a single set along the way.

 

In a situation similar to that in Pool A, the two Pool C matches on Sunday had to finalize the exact positions of the teams in the standings, after who travels to Brno and who stays in Ceske Budejovice had already been decided. Iran will join the tournament’s best eight as a pool winner after defeating Argentina in what was “a beautiful match”, according to coach Behrouz Ataei, while Italy continues as a third-placed team after edging out Ukraine.

With four aces and four kill blocks, Argentina’s Matias Giraudo, who subbed in against Iran in the first two sets and from the third was already in the starting line-up, did his best to change the course of the match and almost did, but with Rasoul Aghchehli on fire again (26 points), Iran emerged victorious by 3-2 (25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 18-25, 15-12).

Paolo Zonca, with 22 points, was the main driving force in Italy’s 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 23-25, 25-13, 15-8) victory over Ukraine. In the first match of the day in Ceske Budejovice the two squads put up a rollercoaster battle with the ninth place in mind.

 

China claimed the last available spot among the top eight of the tournament. They secured the runner-up position in the Pool D table to join Brazil, which won the pool with an impeccable record of three wins and 9-0 sets.

Lucas Adriano Araujo Barreto played only in the last two sets against Japan, but his seven kill blocks helped Brazil master a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-21) shutout of their Asian opponent.