17-Nov, start time: 12:30, end time: 13:41 - Attendance: 750

EGY	0	22	16	20	-	-	58
CAN	3	25	25	25	-	-	75

Match Description:

Canada registers first win
Following an opening defeat to USA on Sunday, Canada recorded their first victory of the 2003 Men's World Cup with a workmanlike straight sets victory over Egypt in the opening match on day two of the Olympic qualifying event in Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

Both teams started the match determined to improve on their opening efforts when they both registered defeats but it was Canada who showed the greater consistency and precision to eventually knock over a determined Egyptian side, who had lost to Japan on the opening day.

Murray Grapentine's presence at the net was again huge for Canada and he was influential in their first set win with some inspirational blocks, particularly when Egypt closed to within two points at 22-20.

Captain Scott Koskie started finding his jumpers with some precision setting in the second set and it wasn't long before the power spiking of MIP Jason Haldane and Grapentine gave Canada the second set as they looked on course to walk away with the match.

But some improved spiking from Mohamed Moselhy and power serving from Mohamed Shehata gave Egypt a healthy 8-4 lead at the start of the third set and suddenly Canada's comfortable straight sets win was in doubt. Ross Ballard, however, used his left arm to great effect on attack to reduce the deficit before Steve Brinkman's excellent work on the block saw Canada regain control at 19-17 and go on to wrap up the match in an encounter, which would have been beneficial for both sides.

Comments:

DEROCCO, Stelio (CAN Head Coach)
Today's match was important for us to win. We had psychological things to overcome. We needed to overcome some disappointment from yesterday. Today, we found our flow and rhythm, and we worked out things that did not function properly yesterday.

DUERDEN, Paul (CAN Player)
Today we had a difficult task to play against the Egypt team because both teams lost yesterday's matches. It is always difficult to come back after a though loss. Personally, it was nice to enter the match after injury on my right ankle from last week.

VUKOVIC, Veselin (EGY Head Coach)
Congratulations on Canadian team. They are very strong team. Egyptian team is a little better than yesterday but every players for Egyptian team has no experience in international matches. There was a little chance in the third set when we led 17 to 14, but we couldn't make it.

AWAD, Hamdy Elsafy (EGY Captain)
We are non-professional players. We need more matches and experience. After two or three matches we would be able to play good. We ate breakfast before 4:30 this morning didn't have anything since then but it's not a big problem for us.

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF