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weekend 2
Egypt edges Japan to
achieve their second World League victory
 Alexandria,
Egypt, June 20, 2008- Egypt fought for 108 minutes to
breeze past the solid Japan team 3-1 (30-32, 25-21,
25-22, 25-21) in their first match of the second weekend
of the intercontinental round of the 2008 World League
here at Mubarak Comlex in Alexandria, Egypt on Friday in
front of 4000 excited spectators. Egypt improved their
win- loss ratio to 2-1 while Japan dropped to 1-2.
After Japan won the first set which was the most
exciting, Egypt team led the game using their big guns
Ahmed Salah and the captain Hamdy El Safi using the
skillful combinations of the European based setter
Abdalla Abdel Salam
The match started under big spectator excitement as the
Egyptian middle blocker Abdel Latif Ahmed scored the
first point through an efficient fast spike from
position 3. Japan replied by a strong backline spike
from the strong wing spiker Tatsuya Fukuzawa. The match
went point by point till 5-5 as the spikers were usually
more effective than the blockers in both teams. Abdel
Latif took the first block to allow Egypt to lead 6-5,
and then Egypt maintained the lead till 8-7 at the first
technical timeout (FTT). Japan started to use their
spike service of Kunihiro Shimizu and also the strong
hits of Fukuzawa to achieve the biggest lead 13-10.
Egypt deployed the solid block of Abdel Latif and
Mohamed Ali and regained the rhythm till they draw
15-15. Japan used the unstoppable hit of Fukuzawa to
come ahead 16-15 at the second technical timeout (STT).
The set went into the most exciting part as both teams
improved the backline defense and again the draw
maintained till 21-21 when the Japanese head coach Ueta
asked for a timeout while the Egyptian coach played with
the team captain Hamdy El Safi and made some
substitutions for the servers. Japan lost the set point
24-23 and Egypt led 25-24 and again lost the set point.
Again both teams repeated the situation till the
Japanese blocker Shimizu scored the set point 32-30
after a long Marathon.
The second set started with a strong spike from Mohamed
Badawy for the host team an then Japan pummeled the
Egyptian defense with a group of spike services to lead
5-4. Egypt changed the strategy of the attacks depending
on the different combinations led by the setter Abdalla
Abdel Salam to lead 7-6 before Japan regained the lead
8-7 at the FTT. Again Japan was better in using the
spike and floating service, but Egypt improved the
reception and used the fast combinations that ended by a
successful spike from the center Mohamed Ali that
allowed Egypt to lead 16-15 at the STT. The Japanese
right attacker Shimizu and the wing spiker Fukuzawa did
a good job in spiking from all net positions, but as
Egypt improved their block they maintained their lead
21-20. Japan players committed several spiking and
digging mistakes that made Egypt ahead ill they won the
set 25-21.
Egypt came ahead in the third set through their
disciplined block and proper reception as Japan
reception showed temporarily inconsistence as Egypt
reached to 8-5 at the FTT. El Safi played a great role
with his razor sharp spikes as Egypt continued their
leading 10-7 before they committed some reception
mistakes that allowed Japan to come near again through
the big gun Shimizu and led 14-12. The substitute wing
spiker Saleh Fathy played his well known tactical
service that allowed Egypt to score 4 successive points
and Egypt became ahead 16-14 at the STT. Japan improved
their block to come near again but Egypt changed the
strategy of their attacks to use the fast and short
setting to the centers and succeeded to win the set
25-22.
Japan started the fourth set aggressively to lead 3-0
using the unstable Egyptian reception. Egypt players
deployed their block against the Japanese attacks and
recovered quickly through the skillful combinations of
the setter Abdel Salam and Egypt came ahead 8-6 at the
FTT. The Egyptian spikers sliced frequently the Japanese
block to lead widely 16-10 at the STT. Egypt extended
their lead to 18-11 before the Japanese coach called
timeout which was followed by scoring 5 successive
points. Egypt rebounded back as Saleh Fathy and Salah
played a great role to widen the score to 23-20 before
Salah scored the match point 25-21 and Egypt won the
match 3-1.
Press Conference
I'm happy to achieve the second victory in three
matches, Zakaria
EGYPT
Egypt Head Coach, Ahmed Zakaria:
I’m happy to achieve this big victory against a big team
like Japan although they are better prepared than us
specially they played many strong matches in the Olympic
Qualifications, while my team didn’t play any friendly
match before the World league. I think we performed well
today after losing the first set. We changed the
position of some players to stop Japan best player
Shimizu, but as a whole I’m happy with the performance
today and we hope to do the same tomorrow.
Egypt Captian, Hamdy El Safi:
I’m happy that my team achieved the second victory in
the World League against a strong team like Japan. Japan
was good in the first and second set, then we were
better in the third and fourth. I think Japan team
suffered from the big effort they did during the last
few weeks
JAPAN
Japan Head Coach, Tatsuya Ueta:
My team was affected by the big effort done during the
Olympic Qualifications and also the long journey fropm
Japan to Cairo. Today we played by a big number of young
players led by the only highly experienced star Shimizu
who was one of the match stars. I think the Egyptian
team was better in spiking and also in blocking and
above all they were good mentally. I hope that my team
will do better tomorrow.
Japan Captain, Takeshi Kitajima:
Today Egypt played with a good block and defense and
what was more important is their fighting spirit. They
were fighting the entire match better than us. I hope to
win the match tomorrow after we correct all our
mistakes.
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