Sofia, Bulgaria, July 13, 2019. The first day of the 2019 CEV U17 European Championship - Men was full of action in the Bulgarian capital as six games were played in Hristo Botev Hall and at the Training Hall in Arena Armeec. All teams were full of enthusiasm and motivation to give their best on court, however only France, the hosts Bulgaria along with Turkey emerged victorious in Pool I, while in Pool II Italy, Portugal and Czech Republic earned opening wins.
Pool I
Belarus vs. France 0-3 (15-25, 15-25, 13-25)
France claimed a quick straight-set win over Belarus in the opening match of Pool I at Hristo Botev Hall. The young Frenchmen were extremely motivated and unstoppable during the entire match playing on a very high level in all aspects of the game. Nathan Canovas topped the list of the scorers with 18 points while Hilir Henno added 10. Aliaksei Ilkevitch scored 8 points for Belarus.
Olivier Audabram, head coach of France said: "We are happy that we managed to start the tournament in the best way possible. It is always important to win your first match. The championship is quite long so we have to stay focused for the games ahead."
Aliaksei Kavaliou, head coach of Belarus: "France are very strong and their players showed some really great actions. We wanted to win, but we didn’t manage to show our full potential. It is time to concentrate for the next match. Every first game of a tournament is difficult, so I think we are able to perform better."
Martin Stoev, head coach of Bulgaria: “I could say that it was a deserved win. We were leading during the whole game. We didn’t underestimate our opponent which was very important. I am happy that we won in straight sets because this is the way to get in shape – to achieve quick wins, not to play four or five-setters.”
Constantin Burungiu, head coach of Romania: “Bulgaria are a very good team, really well-organized. Today they played perfectly with very small number of mistakes. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about my team. I hope that we will improve our performance in the following matches.”
Finland vs. Turkey 0-3 (19-25, 19-25, 17-25)
Another straight-set victory closed the Day 1 in Pool I. Turkey beat Finland in convincing way with the great performance by Can Koc, who scored 13 points. On the other side of the net Urho Rytsä was the top scorer with 8 points.
Ali Yilmaz, head coach of Turkey: “Today we played well from the very beginning. The most important thing for us was to start strong and to keep a high level of performance during the whole match. I would like to congratulate not only my players for the victory, but also our opponents for a great game.”
Janne Heikkinen, head coach of Finland: “It was obviously a bad game for us. The whole team is disappointed. Turkey deserved this win, they were the better team on the court. We made too many mistakes and we just couldn’t find our game at all. Tomorrow we face Belarus. First of all we expect to improve our game and that is for sure our first goal now.”
Pool II
Italy vs. Poland 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-23)
After an extremely fierce battle Italy claimed a 3-1 win over Poland. Italy opened the game very well, but their opponents quickly caught up the score and eventually won the first part. Both teams spared no effort in defence fighting literally for every ball until the end of the match, but several unforced errors from Poland made the difference. Raul Parolari of Italy was the top scorer with 20 points, on other side of the net Kamil Szymendera had 16to his name.
"This match was very difficult, because Poland were very strong in defence, so therefore we had long rallies. We are glad that we won, but it was only the first match and more is ahead of us," said the captain of Italy, Luca Porro. Head coach, Renato Barbon added: "This victory is really important for the entire team."
“It was a point-by-point race, but we didn't manage to stay cool in the decisive part of sets. I think we didn't show our best, because during our test games we performed better, but the tournament is not over," said Jakub Olszewski, captain of Poland.
Portugal vs. Greece 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-19)
Portugal needed only three sets to defeat Greece. They dominated on the court from the very beginning outspiking their rivals. Only in the second set the young Portuguese did struggle with problems in reception, letting Greece to take a lead, but even that was not able to stop them from winning the set and the whole game. Alexandros Nanopoulos of Greece scored a match-high 16 points, while Manuel Figueiredo had 12 in his tally for Portugal, being followed by his teammate Nuno Marques (11).
Nuno Miguel dos Santos Pereira, head coach of Portugal: "Considering that it was our first match at this event I can say that it was a good game. Our players felt some pressure, but they managed to show their skills. In the second part we had problems in reception, Greece served well and we made some mistakes, but we solved it quickly."
Georgios Bakodimos, head coach of Greece: "To win all players have to perform very well and today my guys didn't play good. We have four more matches ahead of us, but we need to react on what happened today."
Czech Republic vs Russia 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 27-25)
Czech Republic and Russia delivered an incredible show to the fans in the last match of the day in Pool II. After losing the first set, the Czechs made every effort to stop the favourites of this encounter. The game was extremely tight, but the last set proved that it was a fully deserved win. David Kollator had an outstanding performance scoring 24 points! Nikolai Zubov from Russia had 14 to his name.
Jakub Ures, captain of Czech Republic: "The first was not the best for us, but we managed to improve during the game. We had nothing to lose, so we did our best and enjoyed the game. Team, fight and stopping Zubov were our key to victory in the last set."
Vladimir Khromenkov, head coach of Russia: “Our team miss some international experience. Some players who performed very well in Russia, during events like this struggle with some psychological problems, which we were not able to overcome today. We need players with strong desire to play and to win on the court.”
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