Vintage Grozer powers Germany

Germany banked on the inspired performance of veteran Gyorgy Grozer to storm to its first victory in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Grozer, a 40-year-old journeyman from Budapest, provided the firepower to spearhead the Germans to a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 victory over Chile on the fourth day of this prestigious 32-nation event.

Meanwhile, fan-favorite Japan bombs out of the tourney following a 20-25, 23-25, 22-25 setback to Canada.

It was the second straight loss by world No. 5 Japanese after opening their campaign with a 19-25, 23-25, 19-25 loss to Turkey. They, however, will try to close their bid on a high note when they face also-ran Libya on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We still played so aggressive today, but we lost important points,” Japan’s chief attacker Ran Takahashi, who posted 11 points and four digs, said.

“We couldn’t find our rhythm. We have to ask for a near-perfect game in volleyball. We still have so many issues.”

The win was special for the Germans as it gave them a fighting chance to catch the bus headed for the Round of 16 while bouncing back from a heartbreaking loss to Bulgaria in the opener on Saturday.

Grozer fired 17 of his 19 points at the attack zone while holding the fort in the crucial second set in which the Chileans woke up from their slumber to put pressure on the European powerhouse. The Germans, however, hung tough in the third set to secure the morale-boosting victory.

“Today was better than against Bulgaria. Of course, Chile is a not so strong team, but they are fighting really strong against us. You could see in the second and third set that they never give up,” said Grozer, who also visited Manila to see action in the Volleyball Nations League last year.

“Our performance in a couple of elements was much better, but still we didn’t reach how we can play. So, I hope that the third game will be the better game and we can win against Slovenia.”

Anton Brehme chipped in 10 points, while Tobias Krick and Moritz Reichert added seven points for the Germans, who are looking to land on the medal podium since finishing third in the 2014 edition in Poland.

Grozer said their victory over Chile will be worthless if they will not go all out against Slovenia for their final pool play match on Wednesday.

“All in,” said the well-traveled Grozer, who had competed in countries like Poland, Qatar, South Korea, China, Italy and Turkey in a storied professional career that started in 1992.