Eindhoven, Netherlands, 18 July, 2018 – On the final day of preliminary competition, 2016 Paralympic champions Iran, along with the silver medallists, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Egypt, the bronze medallists from those Games, were joined by China, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and USA in qualifying for the 2018 Men’s World Championship quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The top two teams in each of the four pools advanced to quarterfinal action which will take place at the Parktheatre Eindhoven on Thursday. Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China and Brazil all finished their preliminary pool play with identical records of three wins from three matches.
| MEN – Eindhoven – third and final day of pool play |
| Wed Jul 18 | 11:00 | BIH v POL | 3-0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-20) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 12:00 | UKR v CRO | 3-1 (25-20, 25-14, 21-25, 25-14) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 13:00 | GER v JPN | 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-11) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 14:00 | BRA v KAZ | 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-23) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 15:00 | EGY v IRQ | 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 26-24) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 16:00 | CHN v RWA | 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-13) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 18:00 | IRI v RUS | 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20) |
| Wed Jul 18 | 19:00 | USA v NED | 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23) |
Pool B
In Pool B, in one of the most closely fought matches of the championship so far, Iran and Russia served notice that they will both be tough teams to beat. Iran, with their dominant 2.45m player, Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, prevailed in four sets over the team from Russia in a match that saw the lead change throughout the match. Both teams advanced.
Pool A
China, one of the most improved teams at the event, easily defeated the surprising team from Rwanda in Pool A, who are competing for only the second time and have showed great promise as a force in the African zone. In the final match of the day, the host team from the Netherlands were matched against the USA men in Pool A play. In an exciting four set match in front of a large, boisterous home-crowd, the USA prevailed in four sets to qualify as the final team for the quarterfinals.
Pool C
Brazil had a somewhat easier time in their Pool C match against Kazakhstan winning in three sets and advancing to the quarterfinals. Ukraine also advanced to the quarterfinals with a record of two wins and one loss.
Pool D
Bosnia and Herzegovina also won Pool D with a convincing win over Poland. Number three seeded Egypt also advanced to the quarterfinals with a hard fought victory over Iraq.
Men’s Thursday, Saturday and Sunday matches
Following quarterfinal and classification action in Eindhoven, the men will move to The Hague for semifinals on 21 July and the medal round on 22 July.
Men’s Quarterfinal and Classification Match Schedule
Women’s Thursday, Friday and Saturday matches
The women’s quarterfinals and classification matches start on Thursday at the Luxor Theatre and Top Sport Centrum in Rotterdam as per the following schedule before the semifinals (Friday) and finals (Saturday) take place at the same venues.
Quick Links
- Tournament Website
- Live Streaming and Videos
- News
- Day Three – Italy surprise as women’s quarterfinals confirmed
- Day Two – First quarterfinalists confirmed
- Day One – China and Bosnia & Herzegovina collect wins
- Hosts seek return to glory days
- Brazil seek Tokyo 2020 place
- Hesham Elshwikh aims to upset
- Ones to Watch
- Tokyo 2020 tickets on the line as Sitting Volleyball World Championships set to go
- Sitting Volleyball World Championships return home
- 2018 Sitting Volleyball World Championships Schedule – Update
- Sitting Volleyball World Championship 2018 pools and schedule confirmed
- Teams announced for 2018 Sitting Volleyball World Championships
- Photos
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- Qualification Process
- World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships history
