One down, three to go for Men's U23 Worlds semifinals

Cairo, Egypt, August 21, 2017 - Brazil claimed the first ticket to the semifinals of the 2017 FIVB Men's U23 World Championship, as defending champions Russia - the only other undefeated team in the tournament - dropped a point to Argentina and were denied an early qualification, as the penultimate day of pool play wrapped up here on Monday.

Brazil came back from two sets down at 1-3 and edged Cuba in seven sets 4-3 (13-15, 15-13, 11-15, 11-15, 15-11, 15-8, 15-12) to punch their ticket to Thursday's semifinals with a match to spare in pool play, while Russia rallied from 2-3 down to beat Argentina 4-3 (11-15, 15-12, 13-15, 15-13, 8-15, 15-12, 16-14).

But the rest of Pool A is wide open with four teams on 2-2 records after Japan beat Poland 4-2 (15-13, 14-16, 15-12, 15-13, 8-15, 15-13) and Egypt downed Mexico 4-1 (15-5, 15-7, 13-15, 15-9, 20-18).

In other Pool B action Monday China shut out Algeria 4-0 (17-15, 15-13, 15-7, 15-11) and Iran scattered Turkey 4-0 (15-12, 15-9, 17-15, 15-10).



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





The top two teams of each pool advance to the semifinals. Teams ranked 3rd and 4th in the pools will play out for positions 5-8.

All teams rest on Tuesday with play resuing on Wednesday for the last round of pool play, ahead of semifinals on Thursday and finals on Friday.



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

Top Scoring Performances
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
22 – German Johansen of Argentina v Russia on 21 August
21 – Zhou Liying of China v Turkey on 18 August
20 – Sergei Pirainen of Russia v Argentina on 21 August

Top Individual Blocking Performances
5 – Aleksei Konovo of Russia v Argentina on 21 August
4 – Xiao Lijia of China v Turkey on 18 August
4 – Jaroslaw Mucha of Poland v Cuba on 18 August
4 – Jose Masso of Cuba v Egypt on 19 August
4 – Hisham Ewais of Egypt v Cuba on 19 August
4 – Javier Concepcion of Cuba v Japan on 20 August
4 – Augustin Loser of Argentina v Turkey on 20 August
4 – Saeed Jahaveri of Iran v Algeria on 20 August
4 – Rafal Szymura of Poland v Japan on 21 August
4 – Marcin Kania of Poland v Japan on 21 August
4 – Ivan Iakovlev of Russia v Argentina on 21 August

Top Team Blocking Performances
14 – Russia v Argentina on 21 August
12 – Cuba v Egypt on 19 August
12 – Poland v Japan on 21 August
12 – Iran v Turkey on 21 August
11 – Poland v Mexico on 20 August
10 – Poland v Cuba on 18 August
10 – Argentina v Algeria on 19 August
10 – Egypt v Cuba on 19 August
10 – Cuba v Japan on 20 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
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
19-17 China v Turkey (1st set) on 18 August
19-17 Cuba v Japan (2nd set) on 20 August

Highest Scoring Matches
189 – Russia v Argentina 4-3 (11-15, 15-12, 13-15, 15-13, 8-15, 15-12, 16-14)
187 – China v Turkey 4-3 (19-17, 12-15, 11-15, 15-8, 15-10, 10-15, 15-10) on 18 August
184 – Brazil v Cuba 4-3 (13-15, 15-13, 1115, 11-15, 15-11, 15-8, 15-12) on 21 August
180 – Egypt v Japan 4-3 (15-10, 15-13, 12-15, 15-8, 9-15, 13-15, 15-10) on 18 August
180 – Cuba v Japan 4-2 (15-13 19-17, 14-16, 13-15, 16-14, 15-13) on 20 August
170 – Cuba v Egypt 4-2 (13-15, 16-14, 10-15, 15-12, 15-11, 18-16) on 19 August
169 – Argentina v Iran 4-2 (16-14, 11-15, 15-11, 18-16, 13-15, 15-10) on 18 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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