Turkey-Nigeria
The reigning double European champs stormed to an undisputed victory in their first Pool D match in Brno, Czech Republic.
Best scorers for Turkey were Ceyda Aktas and Seyma Ercan with 15 points each.
World No. 4 Turkey jumped out for a 25-15 set win in tonight’s last match in Brno’s Vodova sports hall. Nigeria showed some nice combinations at the net, but could not hold the pace of their opponents. Especially the sharp Turkish serves got the young Africans into trouble. Turkey continued their run in the second and third set and never looked back.
Turkey will meet Italy in Saturday’s top duel of Pool D while Nigeria take on Egypt.
Turkey coach Gökhan Edman: “It is a great honour to be here, to play the world championship. It is a big tournament. Today’s game was no surprise for us. However, we are happy with the result and we will concentrate for tomorrow’s match against Italy. Nigeria was probably not the ideal rival for the beginning of the championship.”
Turkey captain Damla Cakiroglu: “I am very happy to win this game. I know it is the first match and the first match of the tournament is very important. We have to forget the result and focus on our next games.”
Nigeria coach Sergey Ovechkin: “We play the world championship; for sure, it is very difficult. Today we played according to our possibilities. Nevertheless, we miss the experience of other teams.”
Nigeria captain Mercy Promise: “Today’s game was not that bad. It is our first world championship and we need to learn. We had only one month for the preparations – it was not enough. After this match, we know we have to work harder.”
To read more news from this competition click on Junior World Championship 2013 W.
