Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-06-26

(BEIJING, June 26)– Italy will challenge Russia’s undefeated record in the FIVB “Match of the Week” during the third weekend of World League play, which starts Friday.

Russia and Italy will play twice in Florence, while the other two teams in pool B, Cuba and the Republic of Korea, will be playing two matches in Havana.

In pool A, France hosts Serbia, while Venezuela will square off against world No. 1 Brazil at home. Brazil split a pair of games last weekend with France, as did Venezuela with Serbia. The point standings are close in the pool – Brazil and France each have seven and Serbia and Venezuela each have five.

The pool C-leading Americans will play winless Finland in Green Bay, USA, while the Spanish team will try to avenge two early losses to the Bulgarians when they meet in Madrid and Pinto, Spain.

Poland will travel to Japan for two matches. They are 15-1 against the Japanese since 1996. Egypt goes to Hangzhou to take on China in the other two pool D matches.

“Egypt has made great progress in the past few years, and are performing very well at present,” said China’s head coach Zhou Jinan, as reported by the FIVB official website. “We must pay more attention to the match and try to learn from them well to prepare for Beijing Olympic Games.”