2015 FIVB U23 World Championship - Dubai / United Arab Emirates - 8/24

  • Iran is Asian champion. Iran and South Korea will participate from Asia. The MVP was Pouria Fayyazi.

  • I think this category is quite unnecessary, because the best players are with the senior NT or with quite already experienced with youth/junior competitions...


    Brazil and Russia seems to be the favorites, with Turkey and Iran as outsiders, but i am quite surprised to not see Douglas in the brazilian team, and Russia with no real OPP and Kliuka in ( I though that the fact he played ofr belarussian youth would avoid him to play for Russia in any amateur level )

  • I think this category is quite unnecessary, because the best players are with the senior NT or with quite already experienced with youth/junior competitions...


    Brazil and Russia seems to be the favorites, with Turkey and Iran as outsiders, but i am quite surprised to not see Douglas in the brazilian team, and Russia with no real OPP and Kliuka in ( I though that the fact he played ofr belarussian youth would avoid him to play for Russia in any amateur level )


    Kimerov is Russian OPP, I think that's his natural position... Russia is missing 3 players, Poletaev, Kurkaev and Vlasov so this isn't their best possible squad. Brazil looks really good but also Cuba with Uriarte, Alfonso, Calvo and Osoria (all from senior NT). Turkey is playing with almost the same squad as in WL (Gungor, gokgoz, Toy, Gunes). In fact this is junior NT from ECH in Gdynia where they took 4th place.. Iran is also good team so some interesting matches are on cards :whistle:

  • Kimerov is Russian OPP, I think that's his natural position... Russia is missing 3 players, Poletaev, Kurkaev and Vlasov so this isn't their best possible squad. Brazil looks really good but also Cuba with Uriarte, Alfonso, Calvo and Osoria (all from senior NT). Turkey is playing with almost the same squad as in WL (Gungor, gokgoz, Toy, Gunes). In fact this is junior NT from ECH in Gdynia where they took 4th place.. Iran is also good team so some interesting matches are on cards :whistle:

    My point was not concerning the quality, but for me they are already professional players with this age, so no need to play these tournaments.
    Today Douglas is playing for Brazil, wish i could see this battle against Russia, that for my surprise is playing with Volkov in the bench ( maybe resting him for U20 ? ). Kimerov as far as i know is MB, but he is so young, time enough to explore his skills.

  • Alexander Kimerov with his 213 cm is a MB but he has been tried as an opposite at Dinamo Moscow. He started the tournament as an opposite against Tunisia yesterday, this shouldn't be a completely new role to him. This explains the presence of only two MBs for the entire tournament. Obviously, Kimerov will be switched back in case of an injury of any of the MBs. However, none of this explains the lack of a pure opposite. Egor Feoktistov, the captain of the team, is listed as a back-up opposite, but he is a pure OH at Ural Ufa.

  • I want to ask a question that I'm really confused about. :sos: See this , Cuban captain at U23 is only 15 years and 6 months old. Is this possible or is he a age cheating case? His face is young but I cant believe a player that young can play volleyball at this level. and if his age is real, why is he captain among many older people? don't they have a more experienced person?

  • I want to ask a question that I'm really confused about. :sos: See this , Cuban captain at U23 is only 15 years and 6 months old. Is this possible or is he a age cheating case? His face is young but I cant believe a player that young can play volleyball at this level. and if his age is real, why is he captain among many older people? don't they have a more experienced person?

    Leon was one of the big stars of senior Cuban NT at age 14 or 15, so yeah, it's definitely possible. Not to mention Melissa Vargas in the female NT.

  • Good victory of Argentina against Brazil. Won first two sets easily, then lost next two by 2 points, and in 5th was down 8-12 and still managed to win :white: fantastic comeback.



    Our team is almost completely our U21 team + Quiroga + Kukartsev. I think these two guys deserve be in the senior team already. Kukartsev today 34 pts, more than 50% attack, 7 block :win:



    I think Argentina will be title contender in U21 just like in U19. Lazo (OH), Gallego (MB) and Sánchez (S) great players.

  • There is a funny thing about this Iran U23 team. the guy who is coaching this team Peyman Akbari, coached 4 different teams this summer ! 8| first he led Iran Universiade team to a 5th place finish in Korea, then won a silver medal with Iran B team in Asian Championship at home, later finished 3rd with his club Paykan in Asian Club Championship and now this one !! :D actually he joined this team only at airport on their way to UAE !


    Quite a busy summer for him and technically he screwed up almost all the teams he coached this summer ! :thumbdown: I wonder if there is any other team left for him to screw up this year ! :D He is not a bad coach though but you can't manage 3-4 different teams at the same time.


  • Fully agree, Gallego is a monster :obey: Quiroga and Kukartsev deserve place in senior NT, especially due lacking of quality wing spikers.