No Bronze For del Bianco and May
(L) del Bianco dives at U19 World Championships, with partner May
In the final eight late Saturday at the SWATCH FIVB U19 Youth World Championships in Porto, Portugal, the Canadian team of Nick del Bianco and Toronto’s Garrett May, seeded 18th, upset fourth-seeds Andrey Bolgov and Ruslan Bykanov of Russia 2-0, (21-14, 22-20) to advance to the semifinals. Earlier that morning, in the round of 16, they had defeated eighth-seeds Tiziano Andreatta and Michele Barratto of Italy 2-1, (18-21, 21-12, 15-11) to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Canadians, who were 5-0 in tournament play, now had to face the number-24 seeded Artem Kuchurenko and Maxim Anufriev also of Russia in Sunday’s semifinal. They lost a heart breaker 2-1, (21-19, 16-21, 15-13).
Del Bianco-May were vaulted into the bronze medal match against the high ranked, third-seeded team from Germany, Lorenz Schümann and Dominik Stork and they quickly fell, losing 2-0, (10-21, 19-21).
Gold went to Poland’s fifth-seeded Kantor-Losiak in a dramatic three-set marathon match, over Russia’s Anufriev-Kuchernko 17-21, 21-19 and 15-11 in 59 minutes in front of a full stadium of enthusiastic fans.
OTHER CANADIAN RESULTS:
Aaron Nusbaum of Aurora, Ont., and Grant O’Gorman of Toronto (23rd seeds) were 6-0 through qualifying and main draw play before Saturday’s losing match. Kuchurenko and Anufriev eliminated Nusbaum-O’Gorman 2-0, (21-17, 23-21) in the round of 16.
In women’s competition, 19th seeds Jennifer Cross and Melissa Humana-Paredes, both of Toronto, were eliminated in the round 16 as well falling to 11th seeds Rebecca Silva and Juliana Simoes of Brazil 0-2, (21-12, 22-20). Cross and Humana-Paredes finished 2-2.
Notes from VC, fivb.org
