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CAGLIARI, Italy, October 3, 2021 - Italy
triumphed with the title and the gold medals of
the FIVB Volleyball U21 Men’s World
Championship.
At home in Cagliari, they dropped only two sets
(both in the semifinal against Poland) in eight
matches played to celebrate as first-time U21
world champions, confirming their achievement at
the U19 World Championship in Tunisia two years
ago, when they also topped the podium.
In Sunday’s gold medal match at Pirastu hall,
the home team shut out Russia. Poland took the
bronze.
Italy was well in control of the first set of
the final, but in the second they had to come
back from a four-point deficit and win it on a
three-point run at the end. Five points in a row
gave the Italians a 10-6 lead in the third set
and they never looked back to win the match by
3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-20). Alessandro
Michieletto was the best scorer of the match on
18 points for the winners.
Poland had few issues to deal with in the bronze
medal match earlier on Sunday in Cagliari. They
delivered an emphatic 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-19)
shutout of Argentina, outplaying the opponents
in all point-scoring elements. Polish opposite
Dawid Dulski produced the 21-point match high.
In a battle for the fifth place in the world,
Belgium lost the first set against Bulgaria, but
then came back to win the next three sets
(19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23).
Brazil finished on the seventh position after
claiming a 3-0 win (25-13, 25-21, 25-15) over
Czechia in their last match of the competition.
Iran outplayed Canada in Sofia to claim a 3-1
(25-17, 25-21, 25-27, 25-15) victory and the
ninth place.
Cuba came back from a set against to defeat
Thailand 3-1 (35-37, 25-18, 25-16, 25-23) in
Sofia and claim eleventh place.
Egypt was ranked 13th after a 3-2 (26-28, 26-24,
22-25, 25-16, 15-9) victory over Bahrain in
Sofia.
Morocco finished in 15th place and claimed a
victory against Cameroon. |
