Despite seeing a first set slip from their grasp, the London boys’ team at the International Children’s Games rebounded to win a gold medal Sunday in Windsor.

Members of the London Volleyball Club, the team bounced back for a 24-26, 25-22, 15-9 win over Graz, Austria. And with the London girls earning a bronze medal in the competition for kids 12-15, it’s another feather in the city’s volleyball cap.

The London boys led the first set 17-10, but the Austrians refused to roll over.

“I told the guys they weren’t doing anything wrong, that’s just the way volleyball goes,” said head coach Peter Jordan. “I told them, ‘Look at the crowd, use them to your advantage. They’ll pump you up,’ and that’s exactly what happened.

“These guys just stood up and overcame adversity. I’m so proud of them; they worked so hard. We shut them down with our blocking and everyone was just firing on all cylinders. And this is going to mean they can beat anyone they come up against if they work as a team. Teams win matches, individual players don’t.

“But that Austrian team was very strong and we had to play our best to beat them, so kudos to them. And we were the only teams to take a set off each other, so it was meant to be that we’d meet in the final.”

London and Graz both went 5-1 in their pool, with South Lanarkshire, Scotland, 2-4 and Brantford 0-6. In the semifinals, London beat previously undefeated Kecskemet, Hungary, 25-15, 25-14.

The London girls, meanwhile, went 6-6 to finish third in a seven-team round-robin. They lost 26-24, 25-11 to Ufa, Russia, in the semifinals and along with Innsbruck, Austria, were awarded bronze medals.

Sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, the International Children’s Games were founded in 1968 by Slovenian sports instructor Metod Klemenc with the aim to promote peace and friendship through sports.

steve.green@sunmedia.ca

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