Russia wins gold, Cuba seventh

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 7, 2013 – Russia capped an amazing campaign with a dominant victory over China 25-23, 25-22, 25-17, 25-14 to win the gold medal of the FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship on Sunday.

In the match for third place Poland defeated Iran in three sets 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-17.

Meanwhile, Cuba held off a relentless France to claim seventh place with a 3-2 (25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-27, 15-8) victory in the match for seventh place.

Russia capped an amazing campaign with a dominant victory over China 25-23, 25-22, 25-17, 25-14 for the gold medal. In the match for third place Poland defeated Iran in three sets 19-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-17.

Osmani Uriarte and Luis Jimeno were the two main offensive threats for Cuba with 28 and 22 points respectively while Inovel Romero chipped in with 11.

Nicolas Szerszen was the top scorer for France, Henry Mederic and Aaron Koubi each recorded 15 points and Thimotee Carle added 14.

Each team registered 14 blocks with the French Mederic leading the way with 6. France committed 28 unforced errors to 21 by Cuba.

In Mexicali, Chile defeated Mexico for the 13th Place while Turkey won over United States for the 15th position.

Chile defeated hosts, Mexico 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-13).  Chile’s Dusan Bonacic scored 33 points to close not only the match but the whole tournament as the most productive player with 176 points.

For Mexico, Enrique Ugalde closed with 24 points (4 aces) and Ivan Molano converted 17. Geiser Mejia scored 14 points (2 aces) and Alan Martinez 12, while Luis Bojorquez totalized 11.

Also, Turkey combined effective blocks with solid serves to score the victory over United States 25-20, 25-17, 15-25, 25-19).

The winners’ captain Yigit Gulmezoglu scored 25 points (7 blocks), Yasin Aydin tallied 14 (4 blocks) and Vahit Emre Savas 11. For USA, Christopher Nugent was the top scorer with 12, followed by Evan Enriques with 11.