AVC Men’s U23 Championship/ Kazakhstan Went into a Five-set Thriller to Stop Uzbekistan

Ardabil, Iran, May 1, 2017 – Kazakhstan opens the first win over Uzbekistan 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 16-14) in the curtain-raisers of the SMM 2^nd Asian Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship at Rezazadeh 6000-seat Indoor Stadium Hall on Monday.

Although Uzbekistan closed the first 25-20, this was Kazakh’s Gurin Kirill who scored top with 8 points. they used the opponent’s errors to gain victory of the first set. Kazakhstan made a come-back from the second set with the excellent spikes up to the end of the fourth set. Uzbekistan then made it harder for Kazakhs to take the whole points and the scores were rationed for Kazakhstan as they tied 20-20 in fourth set but finally Uzbek Islomjon with his spikes extend the match to the fifth set. Prediction got tough as the match went in edge and the fans experienced the opening breathtaking match in a way that they tied 14-14. Denis Yechshenko of Kazakh closed the set 16-14.

Azamat Rakhov, Kazakhstan’s Captain: “we did not enter the court with full concentration as the climatic situation here in Ardabil is different from ours. We will be adapted in next matches”. Yet Oleg Kuznetsov, the head coach found climate not a very important role and said: “we were not familiar with Uzbek style and they played so strong this is why we could not finish in straight. All the matches are important for us.”

Kazakh’s U23 Men of 39 place in FIVB world ranking will rest tomorrow while Uzbekistan is to face Chinese Taipei in Pool C.