Another big blow for Brazil in last match of second round: FIVB Youth World Championship
A upset was seen at the FIVB Youth World Championship when Brazil fell to Japan 3-1 in the final match of the second round of the event on Thursday, August 18.
Defending Champion Brazil entered the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship as a contender for the top position and the South American team displayed stellar performances in the first round of the tournament and compiled a brilliant score of 3-0. However,
the team could not keep up the same momentum in the second round of the tournament. They played in Pool F in the second round along with Serbia, Japan and Poland. Archrival Serbia provided early defeats to Brazil and beat them in the opening match. Brazil
managed to recover from the shock of defeat in the second match against Poland but could not avoid another big blow from Japan.
Japanese team defeated Brazil by sending 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 15-25, and 25-15) on to the board in four sets. Kasumi Nakaya led the Japanese side with 14 points, while Brazil’s Rosamaria and Gabriela contributed 18 points apiece.
The cracking fight started out with an exchange of powerful jump-serves in the first set. Brazil’s Guimaraes Gabriela was all over the place as she delivered speedy serves and also attacked with full potential. On the other side of the net, Kasumi Nakaya
of Japan supported her team with some killer shots. The first set was a close fight but Japan got slightly better near the end and claimed success with 2-points (25-23).
Second set progressed in the same style. Both teams attacked vigorously and didn’t drop a single chance to score points. There was no telling about the potential outcome until Japan got a perfect kill to end the second set at 26-24.
The clash of titans continued in the third set. However, this time Brazil outshone Japan with 10 points, 25-15. Japan retuned the same score of 25-15 in the fourth set and announced match victory over Brazil at the expense of one set.
Brazilian mentor, Mauricio Thomas, regretted the loss of important match. He commented: “We don’t have enough experience to deal with this kind of fast game. Japan played very well in defence, and had precise serves forcing us playing high balls on position
four. Anyway, my players will go on working. Their big goal is the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.”
Head Coach of the Japanese tgeam, Ichiro Hanzawa, was overjoyed with victory over Brazil. He stated: “To beat Brazil is a dream for Japanese players. We feel so happy. Today we managed to improve our service reception system. Especially libero Saya Kaneda
played a great game.”
Brazil and Japan both finished with three points each and neither could qualify for the semi-finals. They are now focused to compete for 5-8 positions on Saturday.
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