FIVB Press Release
Full press release here.
The venues in Fukuoka and Okayama saw today the end of the 3rd Round of the Men’s World Cup 2007: the standings still have Russia leading unbeaten, followed by Brazil, Bulgaria and U.S.A. Two rest days will prepare the stage for the final round, the 4th in the World Cup Round Robin, which will be played from Friday in Tokyo. Today’s action in Site A saw Argentina beat Egypt 3-1, Russia overpowered Puerto Rico 3-0 and Spain downed Japan 3-1. In site B, U.S.A. cruised past Australia in straight sets, Bulgaria beat Tunisia 3-1 and Brazil defeated Korea.
Russia will head to Tokyo for the final phase of the World Cup with a perfect 8-0 win-loss record after taming Puerto Rico 3-0 at Marine Messe Fukuoka on Tuesday. The European vice champions, who have won the World Cup five times as the former Soviet Union and as Russia, downed Puerto Rico 25-22, 25-21, 25-19. They have dropped only one set so far and have three more matches to clinch a place on the podium and qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Puerto Rico, with victories over European champions Spain and NORCECA champions USA behind them, dropped to 4-4 and will hope continental rivals USA seal a top-three spot to ease their own passage to Beijing.
Russian head coach Vladimir Alekno said: “Our performance in this match was not so good, especially at the start of the game. This does not mean we under-estimated the opponent, but already I am thinking about the last round in Tokyo”.
