Australia stuns the gold medal contender Poland in a four-set affair – Volleyball News
Australia and Poland contested their skills in the final match of the first round of the 2012 men's Olympic volleyball tournament on Monday.
Against all odds, the Aussies demonstrated a stellar feat and held off stronger opponent Poland for 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22) victory. The cracking volleyball action took place at the Earls Court in London and around 12,000 gathered to watch the match.
Australia sent Poland to loss and claimed second win of the tournament. However, the Australian team could not qualify for the quarterfinals.
A total of 26 points from Thomas Edgar played an instrumental role in Australia’s victory. He proved his skills on the net and helped his team to overcome resilient rival Poland. Equally talented Nathan Roberts did amazingly well and contributed 18 points.
Both these players grabbed a whole lot of attention during the match.
For Poland, Jakub Jarosz and Bartosz Kurek added 14 points each.
Poles had a better position in the tournament after three out of last four matches. However, Australian team did not show any sign of intimidation and made a good start in the match. Australia showed power in the opening frame and dismissed Poland in 26
minutes.
The second set progressed in the same fashion. Australia earned good points and kept the competitors in chase. Second set concluded in 30 minutes, while Australia improved to 2-0. Poland dropped the second set with a deficit of three points.
Following the loss of two sets in a row Poland came up with an improved performance in the third set and posted 25-18 on board. Poles captured third set, but failed to carry the momentum in the next flight. Team Australia won the fourth set and bagged 3-1
victory.
Polish coach Andrea Anastasi seemed totally dissatisfied with his team’s performance. He said: “We lost. We played bad. If we played well we did not lose. We lost control in the beginning and we were not really fighting. I have no explanation. If you spike
out, you spike out. It was not a technical problem. It was a mental problem.”
Zbigniew Bartman shared the similar thoughts. He commented: “We didn't play very well. We didn't play good tactics and if we play like that we should expect to lose. If we play like we did today, we could lose against anybody.”
Jon Uriarte, the Austrian coach o expressed delight about victory against Australia. He said it was their first time to attend the Olympics and his team has shown remarkable improvement.
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