BELO HORIZONTE:FIVB Men’s Club World Championship in Brazil doubled the share of thrill and action for its third day.
Defending champions Sada Cruzeiro already made it into semi-finals despite losing against a powerful side of Belogorie Belgorod, while Qatar’s Al Rayyan also entered the next round as a consequence of Trentino’s epic victory over UPCN.
Matin Varamin from Iran defeated Guaynabo Mets and their hopes are still alive. After a messy start, European champions improved and displayed their full power to handle Sada Cruzeiro their first defeat of the tournament. The tie-break almost came true in the last game of the day, but Belgorod closed the match on time by 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 21-25, 33-31) making good use of German opposite György Grozer’s 26 points.The result wasn’t enough to darken the horizon of Sada Cruzeiro, as the local team already grabbed a semifinal spot due to sets ratio.
On the other hand, Belgorod still has to do well against Matin Varamin on Thursday to move on.
Belogorie’s coach Gennady Shipulin was particularly pleased because the team performed according to the plan.
“They followed the instructions; we tried to play a lot with the middle-blockers. I’m happy, because Sada Cruzeiro is a great team.” THE PENINSULA
