Turkey seizes gold at 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship – Volleyball news
Turkey hosted the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship from August 12-21 and topped the rankings after losing only one match in their campaign. The Turks were challenged by the Chinese team in the final showdown of the tournament on Sunday, August 21.
The Baskent sports hall in Ankara saw the home team exhibit an exquisite performance which edged out China in straight sets. They posted a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, and 25-22) victory over China in order to get a hold of the title trophy.
The Girls’ U-19 team of Turkey wrote a new chapter in the history of volleyball by winning their first ever gold medal at the Youth World Championship. Local fans also played a great role in their team’s victory.
First set
Both teams had done tremendous work for the most influential match of the tournament. Turkey took a great start in the game and built an early lead of 5-0. The urkish team used Kubra Akman, who offered solid blocking to their opponents’ strike and restricted
them to a low score. One unsuccessful pass from a Turkish player helped China to finally break the ice. However, Turkey maintained its lead and took a score of 8-2 at the first technical timeout (FTT). Ruoya Xu of China used well-planned attacks and tried
to catch up with the Turkish total. The gap of points decreased but China was still behind Turkey at the second mandatory stop, 12-16. Ruoya Xu and Ece Hocao of China put up a combined effort but they could only touch 19, while Turkey achieved set points.
Second set
China opened the second set and attacked through Peiyi Liu. The Turkish players did well to defend the Chinese shots. Ceylan Arisan of Turkey counter-attacked and put her team in the lead at 8-6. Kubra Akman was once again at her best and defended for her
side with solid blocks. From 12-8, they took the next jump to 16-11 and further converted the score to 25-17. Turkey captured a second set in a row and seemed fully prepared to end the game in the next set.
Third set
China created the first tie of the match in the third set at 6-all as the tension was high and both teams exchanged long rallies. China Ting Zhu spiked the ball hard and enabled her side to take the lead over Turkey, 8-7. Akman added quick points to break
the tie but China immediately hit the equaliser at 9-all. It aggravated the Turks and they stormed China’s half with ground breaking shots. Turks went up with a score of 16-10. Afterwards, home squad played fast and quickly covered the length of third set.
China fought a great battle but couldn’t succeed and they received 22-25 defeat in third set while Turkey announced gold-medal victory.
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