Argentina challenge Russia for gold at Men's U23 Worlds

Cairo, Egypt, August 24, 2017 - Defending champions Russia meet Argentina on Friday in the final of the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship, after both scored impressive wins here in Thursday's semifinals over Brazil 4-3 and Cuba respectively.

It's the second time the two teams go head-to-head in this competition, after Russia beat Argentina 4-3 in pool play, earlier this week.

Russia are going for their second gold in three editions of the U23 World Championship. They won the 2015 edition with a victory in the final 3-1 over Turkey.

Argentina have already improved on their previous best finishes of 7th in 2013 and 6th in 2015.

The two teams had met in the final of the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in Tijuana, when most of this year's players were playing in that age group. Russia had prevailed in five sets.


Pavel Pankov of Russia tries to block Argentina's Brian Melgarejo when the two met as U21s at that age-group World Championship final in 2015.

Brazil will meet Cuba for the bronze medal earlier in the day on Friday. In pool play earlier this week Brazil beat Cuba in seven sets.

All matches in Cairo are played under a new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.

In some thrilling action on Thursday, Russia twice came back from 0-2 and 2-3 down to edge Brazil 4-3 (11-15, 13-15, 15-11, 17-15, 13-15, 15-13, 15-8) after some brave moves by coach Andrey Voronkov that took the South Americans by surprise.

Argentina got their money's worth against Cuba despite their wide 4-1 (15-7, 15-7, 11-15, 15-13, 17-15) win in the other semifinal at Cairo's National Stadium complex.

Meanwhile, for positions 5-8, hosts Egypt thrilled their home fans once again with another great performance against China 4-1 (15-12, 15-13, 12-15, 19-17, 15-8) that sees them advance to play for 5th place on Friday. Egypt will face Japan, who beat Iran 4-3 (16-14, 10-15 13-15, 15-11, 12-15, 15-13, 15-7) in the other playoff.


Egypt's Mohamed Abdelmohsen Seliman clebrates after the win over China

Friday schedule (all times local, GMT+2):
10:00 - Iran v China, 7th place
10:00 - Brazil v Cuba, bronze medal match
15:00 - Egypt v Japan, 5th place
18:00 - Russia v Argentina, final

All matches are available to watch live or on demand on the FIVB YouTube Channel.



Summary Statistics - 2017 FIVB Men's U23 World Championship

Highest Scorer by Day
21 – Zhou Liying of China v Turkey on 18 August
29 – Hisham Ewais of Egypt v Cuba on 19 August
25 – Kenta Takanashi of Japan v Cuba on 20 August
23 – Kamil Semeniuk of Poland v Japan on 21 August
24 – Hisham Ewais of Egypt v Poland on 23 August
20 – Miguel Gutierrez of Cuba v Argentina on 24 August
20 – Hisham Ewais of Egypt v China on 24 August

Top Scoring Performances
29 – Hisham Ewais of Egypt v Cuba on 19 August
25 – Kenta Takanashi of Japan v Cuba on 20 August
24 – Hisham Ewais of Egypt v Poland on 23 August
23 – Kamil Semeniuk of Poland v Japan on 21 August
22 – German Johansen of Argentina v Russia on 21 August

Top Individual Blocking Performances
9 – Rahman Taghi Zadeh of Iran v Japan on 24 August
8 – Denis Chereiskii of Russia v Brazil on 24 August
7 – Xiao Lijia of China v Egypt on 24 August
6 – dogukan Ulu of Turkey v Algeria on 23 August
5 – Aleksei Kononov of Russia v Argentina on 21 August
5 – Ivan Iakovlev of Russia v Iran on 23 August

Top Team Blocking Performances
16 – Russia v Iran on 23 August
16 – Russia v Brazil on 24 August
14 – Russia v Argentina on 21 August
13 – Iran v Russia on 23 August
13 – Egypt v China on 24 August

Top Individual Serving Performances
3 – Romulo Silva of Brazil v Mexico on 18 August
3 – Sergei Pirainen of Russia v Algeria on 18 August
3 – Aleksei Kononov of Russia v Algeria on 18 August
3 – Masato Matsuoka of Japan v Mexico on 19 August
3 – Javad Karimisouchelmaei of Iran v China on 19 August
3 – Jakub Zwiech of Poland v Japan on 21 August

Top Team Serving Performances
11 – Egypt v Mexico on 21 August
10 – Brazil v Mexico on 18 August
9 – Russia v Algeria on 18 August
8 – China v Turkey on 18 August
7 – Poland v Mexico on 20 August

Highest Scoring Sets
32-30 Egypt v Poland (3rd set) on 23 August
26-24 Mexico v Cuba (3rd set) on 23 August
22-20 Brazil v Poland (2nd set) on 19 August
22-20 Brazil v Poland (3rd set) on 19 August
20-18 Egypt v Mexico (5th set) on 21 August
20-18 Iran v Russia (6th set) on 23 August

Highest Scoring Matches
198 – Iran v Russia 4-3 (15-11, 12-15, 10-15, 15-13, 13-15, 20-18, 15-11) on 23 August
191 – Russia v Brazil 4-3 (11-15, 13-15, 15-11, 17-15, 13-15, 15-13, 15-8) on 24 August
189 – Russia v Argentina 4-3 (11-15, 15-12, 13-15, 15-13, 8-15, 15-12, 16-14) on 21 August
187 – China v Turkey 4-3 (19-17, 12-15, 11-15, 15-8, 15-10, 10-15, 15-10) on 18 August
186 – Japan v Iran 4-3 (16-14, 10-15, 13-15, 15-11, 12-15, 15-13, 15-7) on 24 August
184 – Brazil v Cuba 4-3 (13-15, 15-13, 1115, 11-15, 15-11, 15-8, 15-12) on 21 August

Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship 2017
FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship 2017 - Schedule
FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship 2017 - Teams
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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