European Golden League: Romania's national team earned a shocking 3-2 victory over reigning European Golden League champions Turkiye at the 2023 Men's European Volleyball Championship.
It was the second loss in two games for Turkiye. Romania, on the other hand, won for the first time after two losses in the six-team Group D at the Shlomo Group Arena in Israel's Tel Aviv-Yafo, reports Xinhua.
Romania took the first set 25-22 thanks to spikes by Marian Bala, then block points by Bedirhan Bulbul helped the Turkish side respond with a 25-18 second set.
The momentum returned to Romania who won the third set 25-21, with an important contribution by Alexandru Rata, but Mirza Lagumdzija inspired the Turks to come back from trailing 19-15 to overturn the fourth set, 25-23.
In the deciding set, Rata and Bala were at their best on the way to 17-15, with Rata making the winning spike.
Rata led Romania with 29 points, while Bala added 19. Burutay Subasi topped Türkiye's scorers with 19 points.
Later in the evening, Greece pulled off an impressive turnaround against Portugal to get a first win in the group, 22-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16, 15-12.
Attacking plays by Alexandre Ferreira and Jose Pinto helped Portugal take the first two sets, but Greece made the comeback mainly thanks to unstoppable Dimitrios Mouchlias, who scored 28 points in total.
Giorgos Petreas added 17 points for Greece, of which seven on blocks. A team-high 22 points by Ferreira was not enough for Portugal.
The only unbeaten teams in Group D, Olympic champions France and hosts Israel, will meet on Saturday, while Turkiye will play Greece.
The other three groups are played in Italy, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia. The top four teams from each group will progress to the Round of 16, set to be played in Italy and Bulgaria.