Volleyball…Beijing 2008

The Chinese volleyball team are being put through their paces in preparation for the Olympic Volleyball tournament. Although not the favourites for the Olympic Volleyball tournament they are aiming for top 8. More at FIVB

Check out this post from Andrea Zorzi where he chats about how the Brazilians are still dominating in the lead up to the Olympic Volleyball Competition. There is nothign new in sight as the World League continues and Brazil continues to dominate the mens competition. Are Brazil the favourite leading intot eh Olympic Volleyball Competition? They surely have to be. Serbia also had a win over USA, Zorzi analyses the match and talks about how it was a mini game between the outside hitters….and Serbia clearly won it. Read the full article from Andrea Zorzi here and keep up with what is happening in the lead up to the Olympic Volleyball competition.

Brazil and Serbia had wins in the World League final as everybody starts thinking about the Olympic Volleyball competition coming up, this is a good indication on how teams are travelling up until now, as they prepare for the Olympic Volleyball tournament. Full article FIVB

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 23, 2008 – Two 3-0 matches opened the Final Round of the 2008 FIVB World League in Rio. Brazil beat Russia, while Serbia had not faced many problems against USA. Winner of the last five editions of the FIVB World League, reigning Olympic and World Champion Brazil debuted perfectly in the Final Round. In a Volleyball Titans meeting, the team coached by Bernardo Rezende, pushed by more than 10,500 fans, overcame Russia by 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-15) at Maracanazinho Gymnasium. The best scorers of the match were Dante, of Brazil, and Poltavskiy, of Russia, with 16 points each.

Olympic Volleyball is heating up! Here is the latest from the World League, which tells us a lot about the Olympic Volleyball competition coming up….only a few weeks left. Full article at FIVB

It is all gearing up for the Olympic Volleyball year. The Grand prix is well and truly underway. It is shaping up to be a ripper Olympic Volleyball year.

Read full article at FIVB

The draw is out for the mens and womens Olympic Volleyball tournament. Check out the pools below and check out this article from the FIVB for the full schedule.

Olympic Volleyball is volleyball at its peak. It is a rare chance for countries to come together and compete for the ultimate Volleyball honors. So who is actually in the Beijing Olympic Volleyball Tournament?

Mens

• China
• Brazil
• Russia
• Bulgaria
• Egypt
• Japan
• Serbia
• USA
• Venezuela
•  Germany
• Italy
• Poland

Womens

• China
• Italy
• Brazil
• USA
• Algeria
• Kazakhstan
• Russia
• Cuba
• Venezuela
• Poland
• Serbia
• Japan

Are China going to start dominating world Volleyball once again? They seem to be on their way with a win over Italy in the Grand Prix.

Full article FIVB

FIVB World Grand Prix champions of 2003 China are blazing a trail at the top of the standings in this year’s competition with a 100 percent record after the first two weekends of competition. China won Group F in Hong Kong, while six-time champions Brazil won Group D in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam and two-time winners USA were triumphant in Wroclaw, Poland.

Full article from FIVB

Full article FIVB

Tokyo, Japan, May 14, 2008 – Eight National Teams will gather in the dazzling capital city of Japan from May 17-25 to compete against each other in the Women’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament to vie for the last four tickets to the 2008 Beijing Games.

The round-robin tournament doubles up also as the Asian Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament and so the best three teams plus the best Asian team (even if any of the best three teams are Asians) will book their berths in the Volleyball Tournament of the Olympic Games.

Host Japan will be joined by Thailand, Korea, Kazakhstan (best-ranked teams at the 2007 Asian Volleyball Championship), Serbia and Poland (beat-ranked teams from Europe), Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (best-ranked teams from NORCECA).

All the eight teams will have an equal chance to fight for the four places available at the Summer Games in August in Beijing. However, according to the latest World Rankings published on January 5, 2008, and their performances at the FIVB 2007 World Cup, Poland, Serbia and Japan are considered the most probable candidates for the tickets on offer in the tournament.