Hosts Turkey win opening match – 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship
Turkish Girls’ National Youth Team held off Algeria for a straight set victory in the opening match of 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship on Friday, August 12.
They claimed the match by scoring 3-0 (25-8, 25-13, and 25-14). The match was played in packed-up Baskent Sports Arena, Turkey. Local fans had come in masses to support their team. Turkish girls created a perfect chance of celebration for home crowd by staging
a wonderful performance.
None of the players in both teams could go into double figures. Asli Kalac of Turkey was the high scorer of the match as she clipped 9 points for her team. She was featured on the Turkish line-up in the second set. Algeria’s Sarra Belhocine was the top-scorer
in her team. She registered 7 points on six attack, 1 block and two serves.
African team Algeria didn’t pose a threat for Turks. Home squad entered the competition with calm and easy action. They followed a plan and made perfect blend of attacks and blocks. Turkey expected a little less resistance from the opposite side but Algeria
acted like great rival of Turkey. They made every move to stop Turkish hits. However, Turks had done their home work and they didn’t allow Algeria to create trouble for them. Ece Hocaoglu directed off commanding serves and put Turkey in lead of 6 points at
first technical timeout. Algeria progressed at snail’s pace but Turks played fast and quickly covered the length of opening set. They secured first set with huge margin of 17 points.
Several ace services and precise spikes enabled Turkey to take a lead in second set as well. Initially, they built 8-5 and maintained the gap of points up until 16-13. Sarra Belhocine and Louiza Bayou of Algerian formed good combo and incorporated counter-attacks.
Anyhow, luck was totally of Turkish side as they restricted Algeria at the score of 13 and achieved set points.
Turkey kept the operations of the game well under hand in third set. They dominated the outsider team and sealed victory by winning third set in a row.
Turkish Coach Sahin Catma was happy about the match outcome. Since, they are serving as the host of the tournament, the coach courtly commented, “We respect all teams we play against. We want to finish at the top of the group. My favorites of the championship
are Brazil, China, Japan, USA and Serbia and we should do our best against all those teams.”
Furthermore, the captain of the home squad stated, “It is a happy moment to win. We are relaxed and it was such a friendly game. It was the most important game because if you win once, you win the rest.”
Coach of Algeria, Karim Imedjdab congratulated Turkey for winning the match. He took a lot of pleasure in saying that they were honoured by playing against host team Turkey. He expressed his urge to work on his players’ skills by playing against experienced
teams of world. Algeria’s Captain Celia Bourihane concluded, “When we first started the match on the pitch, we weren't too strong. We did our best but it wasn't enough.”
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