Serbs win on first day of 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship - Volleyball
The men’s Junior Volleyball Team from Serbia made a great opening by winning at the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship, which started off on Monday, August 1, in Brazil. A total of sixteen teams are taking part in the international volleyball event
for men’s under-20 teams.
Currently the preliminary round is underway as teams play in four pools. Serbia faced off against Belgium in their first match of the tournament in Pool D yesterday. Caio Martins Hall in Niteroi, Brazil hosted the match, where Serbia claimed victory by posting
3-0 (25-21, 25-15, and 25-16). Day-1 closed with a Serbian win over the Belgian squad.
Aleksandar Atanasijevic of Serbia was the highest scorer of the match. He chipped in 16 points via twelve spikes, 2 blocks and 2 aces. Likewise, his teammate Uros Kovacevic helped Serbia side with 12 points on 11 spikes and 1 aces. Belgium was offered strong
resistance by Serbian Srecko Lisinac, who saved many crucial points for his team. However, Sam Deroo of Belgium was quick to grab 11 points through 11 successful attack-attempts.
Serbs dominated the opposite side from start till end. In the first set, they picked up an early lead and kept the operations well under their hand throughout the opening set. Belgium trailed behind and couldn’t catch up with the rivals. The skipper of Belgium’s
team Sam Deroo was quite active on the court but rest of the team couldn’t give out the up to mark performance. Eventually, Serbia closed first set with 25-21 on board in about 21 minutes.
Second set progressed in the same style. Serbs put pressure on opponents, while Belgium constantly struggled to come out of blues. There were actually moments in the second set when Belgium came really close to Serbia but couldn’t fully overcome the power
of Serbs. Second set also ended in Serbia’s favour, while the clouds of uncertainty started roaming about Belgium’s team.
Serbia faced some resistance from Belgium in the third set. Belgium put up great effort as it was “do or die” situation for them. They managed to create a tie of 5-5 in third set but resilient rival Serbia got them for the scruff their necks very soon. Serbia
Captain did a great job in leading his team to success in third set. They captured third consecutive set and announced first win of the tournament.
The Head Coach of Serbia, Milan Zarkovic was satisfied with the desired results in the opening match. He stated: “This is our fifth world championships and it is the first time we started as I hoped we would. We could have been better at some points, but
Belgium is a good opponent." His counter-part Belgium’s Steven Vanmedegael praised the good work of Serbia team. He said that if Serbia continues with same energy, they have a chance to win the championship. Speaking of his own squad, he focused on the next
match against Canada. Belgian Captain Sam Deroo also hoped to perform better in the next match.
Meanwhile, Serbian captain, Aleksandar Atanasijevic, shared his thoughts on the match. He said: “We salute Belgium for the game, We are focused in step into the next phase. First set was very close, but we played very good at the end. Our receiver Kapur
and blocker Jovovic were great. If they continue to play like that we are certain to the second round.”
After defeating Belgium, Team Serbia is now scheduled to take on Iran in the second match on Tuesday. Iran and Serbia share the lead of Pool D at the end of first day as both teams pulled off success in their respective matches.
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