Poland secures gold in FIVB World League
The final match of the FIVB World League tournament took place on Sunday, July 8, 2012 between Poland and USA. The title match was being held in Arena Armeec which was filled to the brink. The contest between the two sides went on for three sets by the end
of which Poland had secured its first ever World League championship.
Poland was able to make a clean sweep on USA at the following final set scores: 25-17, 26-24 and 25-20.
The coach of the Polish squad, Andrea Anastasi, expressed his delight at his team’s win in the following manner, “I am really happy. It is the first gold medal for Poland in the World League and for me, as a coach, this is important.”
On the other hand, the coach of the US side, Alan Knipe, shared his sentiments by making the following comments, “Poland played a very good match today. On our side, it is disappointing to lose, but a lot of good things happened to our team in the last few
weeks. It is great to experience these matches and I hope to continue and build on for the Olympics.”
The top scorer of the match was the Polish player Zbigniew Bartman who put up a total of 16 points for his side. Bartman was helped by his team mate Bartosz Kurek who added 12 points for his side.
The opening set of the match saw the Polish come out strong against their opponents as they were able to take an early lead and extend it till the first technical time out at 8-6. The US tried to close in the gap but the Polish team kept on inching ahead
with the advantage till they were able to race ahead and bag the first set at 25-17.
The US rallied together to give a better performance at the start of the second set and they were able to score the first point before taking their lead to the first technical time out at 8-7. The Polish were not about to give up so soon and they made the
frame reach a tie but the Americans were successful in pulling ahead at the second technical timeout at 16-14. However, Poland did not lose heart and made the match reach another tie at 20-20. The second set was tied again at 24-24 but it was the Polish side
that was successful in bagging the frame at 26-24.
Poland started out strong in the third set and took the lead at 8-7 and stretched it further at 16-10. After that point, the Americans seemed to have lost heart as they did not put up a fighting performance while the Polish team was able to storm ahead with
impressive play to seal the deal at 25-20 and finally win the championship title.
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