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Brazil, Russia, Cuba and Italy go top in world Under-23 volleyball

Dubai - Brazil now have six points from three matches in Group B and are within striking distance to chase Turkey and Russia who have nine points.

 The samba rhythm returned to the second FIVB Men's U-23 World Championship when defending champs Brazil ousted gutsy Tunisia 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20) at Al Ahli Club in a late night fixture on Wednesday.
Brazil now have six points from three matches in Group B and are within striking distance to chase Turkey and Russia who have nine points. Alan Souza was easily the Man of the Match with a 20-point accumulation with his blinding speed and finishing at the net while Elyes Garfi (17) was the best on show for the number one African side. Souza's spikes coupled with Brazil's blocking skills were too hot for the Tunisians to handle except in the second visit to the court.
"We lost a close battle to Russia in round two of the group phase (Tuesday). We needed to win this game tonight (Wednesday) and were totally focused on this goal. Mistakes -again many this time also, but we stood up to absorb pressure better," Brazil coach Leonaldo Roberley, said. "We needed this victory and we were a bit tense sometimes. We started with unforced errors but managed to squeeze out and win three good points to stay alive," Thiago Veloso, the Brazilian skipper, said.
In another Pool B encounter, Argentina made favourites Russia go the long way before succumbing 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 15-9) to their more experienced rivals. Russia are second in Group B standings with a clean slate (3-0 with 9 points) but are a slot below the other unbeaten side here Turkey (3-0 with 9 points) on averages. Sergei Nikitin of Russia (21 points) and Argentina's Pablo Koukartsev (19) came out with fantastic spikes to keep the small crowd of spectators cheering throughout. In the first and third sets, the Russians could not match the Latin Americans at the net but tuned up the game on a higher note thereafter. The Euro giants surprisingly had an easy walk past the Argentines in the rubber.
Ahmed Saad and Ahmed Shafik took Egypt past the UAE 3-1 (25-14, 25-21, 22-25, 25-12) in a late night Group A clash at Al Nasr Club thanks to an allround performance by the Pharaohs. For the UAE the effort was an improvement after their consecutive defeats on Monday and Tuesday. Mohamed Khamis and Adel Alblooshi were on target for the hosts when the hosts edged the visitors in the third set.
Winless South Korea pushed Italy before bowing out with their third consecutive loss in Group A. Italy won 3-0 (25-15, 29-31, 25-22, 25-18) but not before South Korea's Kim Inhyoek rocketed in 19 pin-pointers to rattle the Italian defence especially during the third set. Italy's Gabriele Nelli came up with 20 decisive point winners and Tiziano Mazzone had a tally of 15.