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Archive for the ‘Volleyball’ Category.
Updated: 2007-08-24 From: Xinhuanet
BEILUN, East China, August 23 (Xinhua) — Dutch flying-woman Manon Flier scored game-high 30 points to lift the Netherlands over Italy 26-24, 22-25, 27-25 and 25-16 for a second consecutive win at the FIVB World Grand Prix Finals here on Thursday.
Updated: 2008-08-05 22:46:19
The scene of the Press Conference
(BEIJING, Aug. 5) — Though Team China will be first in the hearts of Chinese fans at the Olympic Women’s Volleyball tournament, the United States may rank a close second. The reason? US Coach Lang Ping. Widely considered one of the best volleyball players in the history of China, the beloved star has returned to her home country as the coach of the US Women’s Volleyball team.
“I think that’s such a rare thing to see Chinese fans support our country because of Lang Ping,” said Nicole Davies, a US volleyball player who joined her coach at a press conference at the Main Press Center in Beijing on Tuesday, August 5.
Lang Ping
During the 2005 World Grand Prix in Ningbo, China, Chinese fans held up “Lang Ping” signs in one hand while holding the US flag in the other.
Lang, a former Chine
Updated: 2008-06-06
Cuban players celebrate their victory
(BEIJING, June 6) — China succumbed to longtime rival Cuba on Thursday after four hard sets (21-25, 25-22, 16-25, 19-25) in the team’s first defeat at the Montreux Volley Masters. The loss also ended China’s seven-game winning streak against Cuba this season.
World No. 5 Cuba, who have won eight previous Volley Masters titles, sent their main players to compete in this year’s tournament to enhance their competition skills and prepare for the Olympic Games in August. Likewise this tournament provides valuable practice for China before the Olympics. For players Zhao Ruirui and Feng Kun, the Volley Masters serve as their debut in an international competition.
Despite a weak start, Cuba finally won the first set 25-21. In the second set, China stuck it out and came back 25-22. But in the last two sets, it was Cuba who had complete control, showing spectators the real meaning of competition.
On June 7, China will face the Netherlands at half past midnight, Beijing time; Germany meets Cuba at 22:30; and Italy plays Serbia at 3:00 a.m.
Updated: 2008-06-05
(BEIJING, June 5) — Day four of the FIVB Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo, Japan, saw Italy defeat world No. 60 Algeria 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-20) for their fourth straight victory in the pool. The host Japan beat Thailand in three straight sets, while Argentina held off Iran three sets to one without main player Lucas Ocampo.
Going into its game against Australia with a 0-3 tournament record, the Republic of Korea fought hard to down the Asian Champion 3-2 (27-29, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 15-10) for their first victory, a chance to compete for a Beijing Olympic berth.
“Our substitutes played well in the game, and their faith in winning and the will to fight were the main reasons for the victory,” said the ROK coach afterwards. Australian Paul Carroll was the top scorer in the match with 22 points.
After four rounds, Italy remained the only team with a clean sweep and topped the pool with 8 points. Thailand is in last place with a 0-4 record.
Match schedule on June 6:
Thailand vs. Argentina;
Iran vs. Italy;
Algeria vs. Republic of Korea;
Australia vs. Japan
Updated: 2008-06-04
(BEIJING, June 3) — The FIVB has agreed to a proposal from the China Volleyball Association (CVA) to change the host city for the 2008 World League from Chengdu to Hangzhou in the light of the recent earthquake in Sichuan Province.
The original host city of the 2008 FIVB World League, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, has been seriously affected by the May 12 earthquake. As such, the FIVB has agreed to switch the location of this year’s world men’s volleyball tournament to Zhejiang Provincial Huanglong Gymnasium in Hangzhou and will work together with the CVA to ensure top standards for teams, officials and fans, according to the FIVB website.
China will host Japan, Poland and Egypt in Pool D on the first three weekends. The host team’s first opponent will be Japan on June 14 and June 15. Following the games against Poland and Egypt on home court, the Chinese will travel to Poland, Egypt and Japan to compete in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, respectively.
The World League, started in 1990, is the flagship annual event for men’s volleyball. Ninety-six matches will be held over six weeks this year in 41 cities around the world. In 2007, China placed ninth in the tournament.
The home and away round robin tournaments begin June 13-15 and end July 18-20. In the end, six teams will compete in the final round in Rio de Janeiro July 23-27.
The 16 teams in the World League will compete in four pools. Brazil, France, Serbia, Venezuela are in Pool A; Russia, Cuba, Republic of Korea, Italy in Pool B; USA, Bulgaria, Spain, Finland in Pool C; and Poland, Japan, China, Egypt in Pool D.
Updated: 2008-06-01
(BEIJING, June 1) — Portugal and Poland won their second victories over Puerto Rico and Indonesia, respectively, on Saturday, May 31, the second day of the 2008 Men’s World Qualification Tournament in Espinho, Portugal. The two teams will fight for the only Olympic ticket of the round-robin tournament on Sunday, the third and last day of the tournament.
In front of a large number of spectators, host team Portugal defeated Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-11, 25-18). After Portugal won the first set, Puerto Rico came back with a strong counterattack, taking the second. However, Portugal did not give their opponents another chance to prolong the game, firmly winning the third and fourth sets. With this defeat, Puerto Rico lost any hope of an Olympic ticket, while Portugal moves one step closer.
Portugal’s head coach Jorge Schmidt said in the press conference after the match, “I’m happy with my team’s performance and I trust my players although they made many mistakes in the second set.” Carlos Cardona, head of the Puerto Rican squad, said that his team was the weakest in this tournament and that all players were frustrated due to their performances.
Poland took a solid victory over Indonesia, winning three straight sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-23) within 63 minutes. The European country ranked second in the tournament by the second day. Swiderski and Wlazly, big scorers from Poland, each earned 13 points. Poland’s head coach Raul Lozano told reporters that he looked forward to the third victory, believing his team could try harder to do better next time. Indonesian head coach Xu Xinyu expressed his satisfaction towards his team’s performance, despite their loss.
Updated: 2008-06-01
(TOKYO, June 1) — Italy, Argentina, Australia and Algeria beat host country Japan, Thailand, Republic of Korea and Iran, respectively, on May 31, the first day of the FIVB Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym.
Italy struggled to win their game against Japan. Only after fierce fighting in five sets (25-20, 28-30, 28-30, 35-33, 15-7) did the Europeans claim the win. Japan started a fierce counterattack after losing in the first set to win the following two. At the beginning of the fourth set, Japan led Italy with continuous scoring, but then lost the seven point lead and gave away four more before Italy won the game 35-33. In the tiebreaker, Italy gave fans an outstandingly exciting performance, defeating the Asian team 15-7. Italian head coach Andrea Anastasi said at the press conference after the match that Japan deserved to go to the Beijing Olympic Games because of its fantastic performance, the country’s best in the last 20 years. Japanese head coach Tatsuya Ueta stated that her team felt very shocked and disappointed.
Australia defeated Thailand in three straight sets 25-12, 25-15, 25-14, with powerful serves and blocks. Head coach Russell Borgeaud said that he was glad to win the first victory and that Thailand was indeed a good opponent. Argentina came back from a loss in the first set in its game against the Republic of Korea, winning the next four by close margins (16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 29-27). Lucas Chavez, the best scorer of the match, earned 23 points for his team, while Sung-Min Moon scored 21 points for the ROK.
Another extraordinarily fierce match was held between Algeria and Iran. In the end, Algeria grabbed the win, taking 3 sets to Iran’s 2. The first set, which Iran won 37-35, lasted 36 minutes. However, Algeria not only survived, they took the match.
FIVB Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament results:
No Date Teams Set Result per set (points) Total
Points Time Audience
1 2 3 4 5
1 31-May AUS-THA 3-0 25-12 25-15 25-14 75-41 1:06 1′140
2 31-May KOR-ARG 1-3 25-16 23-25 23-25 27-29 98-95 1:58 3′090
3 31-May ALG-IRI 3-2 35-37 18-25 25-21 27-25 19-17 124-125 2:23 5′360
4 31-May ITA-JPN 3-2 25-20 28-30 28-30 35-33 15-7 131-120 2:43 10′000
