RUSSIA CLAIM U-19 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FIVB U19 Boys World Championship

Algiers, Algeria, September 1, 2005. Russia defeated Brazil in the final on Thursday to claim the ninth Boys' U-19 World Championship, their second FIVB trophy this season after their victory in the Junior Men's tournament last month in India also beating their arch rivals in the final.

Russia won the Boys' U-19 cup after a fantastic five set match (17-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-23, 15-11) against the Samba Dancers here at Harcha hall in the Algerian capital. The Russians deprived Brazil of gaining their fifth world title this season after they had already claimed the Men's World League, Women's Grand Prix, Junior Women's U-20 World Championship and Girls' U-18 World Championship titles.

It was an unbelievable performance from the future heroes of Russia and Brazil who played 117 minutes using every volleyball skill you need and although Brazil were in inspirational form, the Russian players applied the rule that nothing in volleyball is impossible. They rebounded twice from one set behind until they took the match into the tiebreak. The competition’s Most Valuable Player Anton Fomenko played the best match of his life and led Russia with his teammate Dimetry Krasikov and Dmitry Llinykh to the historic victory.

"I studied the Brazilian team well through the video before the match and I put in tactics to stop their spikers by using our solid block," Russian coach Vladimir Kondra said happily. “When my team was twice down by one set I told the players to concentrate and forget the usual Brazilian motivational shouting and they did well as a team in all the skills. I send my sincere gratitude to my libero Roman Martynyuk for his performance which was the most important factor in the victory."

Meanwhile, Italy used their prominent hitters to claim a 3:1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17) victory over Argentina to claim the bronze medal for the first time in their history and resign Argentina to fourth spot. This is the first time Italy reached the podium since their one and only victory in 1997.

A more motivated Iran, who finished second in 2001 and third in 2003, came from one set down to seal a significant 3:1 (20-25, 25-13, 25-19, 25-19) victory over France to claim the fifth position leaving France in sixth.

The more experienced Polish team finished seventh after they claimed a 3:1 victory over Slovakia (31-29, 25-20, 28-26). Poland used the strong spikers Zbigniew Bartman and Jakub Jarosz to win the match in 70 minutes.

Individual Prizes

Best Scorer: 10 Nicolas Marechal (France)
Best Spiker: 4 Araghi Seyed Mousavi (Iran)
Best Blocker: 14 Deivid Costa (Brazil)
Best Server: 9 Konstantin Lesik (Russia)
Most Valuable player: 4 Anton Fomenko (Russia)
     
For much more 2005 Youth Boys' U19 World Championships news visit: www.fivb.org