EGYPT stunned world No. 13 Iran, hacking out a 25-17, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20 victory yesterday to launch its bid on a high in the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Outside spiker Ahmed Said Shafik carried the Pharaohs with 18 points built on 16 attacks, one service ace and a block as Egypt zoomed to a 1-0 start in Pool A play.
Also stepping up in Egypt’s victory were Abdelrahman Elhossiny Eissa and opposite hitter Seifeldin Hassan Aly, who scored 17 and 12 markers, respectively.
Egypt, which saw action in the 2024 Paris Olympics, displayed its attacking and service prowess with 52 total spikes and eight service aces against the Amin Esmaeilnezhad-less Iran.
“We are so satisfied. We are successful. It’s normal to win, we played verym very well,” Shafik said. “It’s a good step for us, we want to lead the pool and qualify as a first placer.”
Over at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Argentina survived a five-set thriller against Finland 19-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-11.
Opposite spiker Pablo Sergio Kukartsev dropped 20 points on 16 attacks, three kill blocks and a service ace while Luciano Palonsky chipped in 19 markers to take world No. 8 Argentina to a winning start in Pool C.
The Egyptians are hoping to keep their momentum when they face host Alas Pilipinas tomorrow at the MOA Arena.
Ali Hajipour MoghadDam FaroUji led Iran with 17 points while Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah had 12 markers.
“Every time it’s difficult to play in the first match in the World Championship. We saw it at the beginning of the tournament. A lot of strong teams lost their first match. Teams like Japan, Germany, they can beat their opponents, but you never know what can happen,” Kukartsev said.
“I think we started really, really nervous. A lot of doubts, stupid mistakes, and Finland played an amazing, incredible game. Applause for them. But we know how we need to play, we know this tournament is really hard so we changed our mind from the first set and we started from zero and tried to take the game.”
