IN battle between two African nations, it was Tunisia which rose to the occasion and reached the Round of 16 of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, scoring a 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 victory over Egypt yesterday in the final pool phase day at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
World No 33 Tunisia eliminated the reigning African champion Egypt with Elyes Karamosli and Oussama Ben Romdhane leading the squad with 14 points each.
With the victory, the Tunisians claimed the top seed in Pool A with a 2-1 record while Egypt wrapped up its campaign with a 1-2 card.
“First of all, I want to thank my team for this win. From the start of this World Championship, we knew that the match against Egypt will be decisive so we prepared well and we played very good in service and attack,” Romdhane said.
That’s very good for us. We don’t know if we will play against Serbia, Brazil or the Czech Republic. We don’t know. But we will play every match, we will prepare. . . I think we will play a good match to qualify,” he added.
Seifeldin Hassan Aly and Ahmed Shafik tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively, in the losing effort for the Pharaohs.
Earlier, World No. 12 Serbia booked its spot in the next round as it stunned world No. 3 Brazil 25-22, 25-20, 25-22, with Drazen Luburic playing hero with 19 points off 17 attacks and two blocks.
Outside spikers Pavle Peric and Miran Kujundzic also made key contributions to Serbia’s cause with 15 and 10 markers as the team finished Pool H with a 2-1 slate.
Over at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Belgium swept Pool F after a 25-22, 25-20, 25-12 humbling of winless Algeria.
Opposite attacker Ferre Reggers sizzled with 18 markers on 15 attacks, two blocks, and a block while skipper Sam Deroo added 15 points in Belgium’s third straight win.
In Pool C, Finland kept its campaign alive in the tournament as it hammered hapless Republic of Korea in four sets 25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 25-21.
