India defeats Brazil by 3-2 in second round: FIVB Men's Junior World Championship
In a surprising turn of events, the Indian squad was able to win against the Brazilian side by 3-2 in the second round of the FIVB Men's Junior World Championship that is being played in Brazil. The thrilling match was played at the Maracanazinho Gymnasium,
Rio de Janeiro on the 7th of August. With their upset defeat, the Brazilian side will no longer be able to get their hands on any medals this year.
As the home team was trudging out of the courts with heads in their hands, the score board showed the following final set scores: 36-34, 22-25, 21-25, 25-17 and 16-14. The first set of the match was the most intense as neither team gave up the struggle
until the very end. After a long tough fight, the Indians proved their mettle by bagging a win and set the tone for the rest of the match. However, the Brazilians asserted themselves in the second as well as the third games but the fourth one was taken by
the Indians by a comfortable margin. The decisive fifth set was as competitive as one could imagine but the outcome was in favour of the Indians.
The Indian coach, H.M. Kumara, expressed himself in the following way at the post match press conference: “I wish we had played this way against Serbia, so we would face Brazil with chances of qualifying. We had nothing to lose and the team played better.
John played a great match, as well as both setters (Ranjit and Thennarasan), which were helped by our great receiving.”
Whereas Leonardo Carvalho, the Brazilian coach, made the following statements: “Every match that goes to the fifth set is decided in details. We lacked calm and capacity to win the match. We made too many mistakes in the first and fourth sets.”
The opening game saw the Brazilians leading at 7-5 which they were able to improve to 10-6. However, the Indians did not let the Brazilians stretch the advantage too far and closed in the gap. The match reached a tie at 22 and India finally managed to push
its way through all the way to the end at 36-34.
The second set also started with a Brazilian lead that was extended until 15-7. India closed in the gap but could not stop the Brazilians from bagging a win at 25-22.
The third set was tied at 11-11 but Brazil prevailed in getting another set at 25-21. However, the Indians stepped up their game in the fourth set and went in for the kill. India was leading at 16-9 when the second technical time out was reached and was
able to stick with the advantage until the end at 25-17.
The fifth set of the game saw the Indians leading at 6-3 but the Brazilians tied the match. However, the Brazilian effort was not enough to stop the Indians from sealing the deal at 16-14.
The Brazilian and the Indian sides have fallen into the 5-8 place classification. Brazil will now be taking on Spain while India will be playing Iran.
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