Polish Youth team with silver

Russia is the new European Champion for youth boys! The team of Alexander Karikov proved too strong even for Poland and won the final match of the 2013 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championship – Boys. The battle of the giants in Laktaši ended with a 3:1 victory for Russia as it stays on as the most decorated team in the history of the competition having won five of its ten editions. CEV Senior Vice President Aleksandar Boričić presented the cup and the gold medals to the winners, who stayed unbeaten throughout the tournament. Belgium celebrated with the bronze medals after a thrilling five-setter against Finland. Turkey defeated France by 3:1 to claim the fifth place as Italy outplayed Austria by the same score for the seventh place and for the last ticket to the 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival.

Russia is the new European Champion for youth boys!  The team of Alexander Karikov proved too strong even for Poland and won the final match of the 2013 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championship – Boys.  The battle of the giants in Laktaši ended with a 3:1 victory for Russia as it stays on as the most decorated team in the history of the competition having won five of its ten editions.  CEV Senior Vice President Aleksandar Boričić presented the cup and the gold medals to the winners, who stayed unbeaten throughout the tournament.  Belgium celebrated with the bronze medals after a thrilling five-setter against Finland.  Turkey defeated France by 3:1 to claim the fifth place as Italy outplayed Austria by the same score for the seventh place and for the last ticket to the 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival

Individual Awards
 
Most Valuable Player:  Victor Poletaev (Russia)
Best Scorer:  Bartosz Bucko (Poland)
Best Receiver:  Rafal Szymura (Poland)
Best Setter:  Sander Depovere (Belgium)
Best Spiker:  Bartosz Bucko (Poland)
Best Blocker:  Ilia Vlasov (Russia)
Best Server:  Pavel Pankov (Russia)
Best Libero:  Kacper Piechocki (Poland)
 
Poland vs. Russia 1:3 (16-25, 18-25, 25-22, 21-25)
 
As the crowd in Laktaši filled up the stands of the splendid competition hall and these nearly 2000 spectators, among which the President of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, created a fantastic atmosphere for the final games of the European Championship, Russia established its domination over Poland in the match for the gold by winning 3:1.  Victor Poletaev was the top scorer of this duel with 25 points for the winning team.  Captain Bartosz Bucko and teammate Artur Szalpuk made 20 points each for the team of Poland.
 
The first set stayed in equilibrium through 11-11.  With Ilia Vlasov serving, Russia was able to take the edge by scoring 6 points in a row and never looked back.  Despite Poland’s good serve reception, Russia was able to score 3 aces in this set.  With its block assisting with 4 points and Poland helping with 9 unforced errors, Alexander Karikov’s team went way ahead for the final 25-16 to ruin the opponent’s impeccable record in the tournament so far.
 
In the second set Russia also started to receive well and hence its offensive efforts started paying off with many points.  The set started with a 5-0 Russian gold rush as the team was able to break away by as many as 11 points at 19-8.  This was enough for a comfortable finish of 25-18.
 
Poland fought back in the third set.  With substitute Artur Szalpuk now among the main seven players of the team and captain Bartosz Bucko also on fire, Wieslaw Czaja’s team stepped up its spiking and serving efforts and took control on the court.  A block-out by Szalpuk shaped up the final 25-22 in Poland’s favor.
 
With Victor Poletaev really flying (in Russian ‘polet’ means ‘flight’) in the next part of the match, Russia was quick to take charge of the scoreboard at the beginning of the set, but Poland would not give in that easily.  It was able to reverse a 5-point setback to tie at 8-8 and even to step ahead by 12-10.  As the lead went back and forth a couple of more times, the last time the scoreboard was level was at 20-20.  Four consecutive rallies won by Russia brought the game to championship point and one rally down the road the Russian setter Pavel Pankov saw an opportunity to smash the ball on the floor to stamp the gold for his team.
  
Alexander Karikov, head coach of Russia: "It was a very interesting game. In the first two sets we played very well and our attack did a great job. In the third set we lost concentration... and the set. After that, we played well again, and we managed to win the game. This is my sixth European Championship, and all I can say is that everything was well organized. There is a very good sports hall here, taking into consideration that this town has a population of only 5000 people. Also, hospitality was great during the entire tournament."
 
Wieslaw Czaja, head coach of Poland: “Congratulations to the team of Russia and congratulations to our team! We played a good tournament. We are glad to be in the final.  The Russian team was better today, so it won.  Next time we will try to beat them.“
 
Victor Poletaev, captain of Russia and MVP of the European Championship: ”I am very happy because we won the gold medal. Being the Most Valuable Player is a pleasure and good motivation for the future.”
 
Maxim Troynin, blocker in the Russian team: "This was a great match between two great teams. I am very happy with the result. I cannot explain my emotions at this moment. I would like to mention that everything was very well organized."
 
Bartosz Bucko, captain of Poland: “Congratulations to the Russian team! They played some fantastic volleyball today. They had a very strong serve and fantastic spikes. They were certainly the best in this tournament. I would like to congratulate Artur Szalpuk. He was our hero today. When he entered the game, we played much better.“