Grand Prix News
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.
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Yokohama, Japan, July 11, 2008 - World No. 1 Brazil and Cuba both clinched their third straight wins on Friday to lead the title race at the 2008 FIVB World Grand Prix Finals, while hosts Japan pulled off an amazing upset by sweeping World Cup winners Italy 3-0, leaving reigning Olympic champions China as the only winless team.
Six-time World Grand Prix winners Brazil held off China 25-18, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18 at the Yokohama Arena on Friday afternoon to improve their win-loss record to a perfect 3-0 at the six-team round robin, dropping China to 0-3.
“I am very happy for the victory, all our players did a very good job,” said Brazil Head Coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes. “But we have to keep in mind that this tournament is only warm-up for the Olympic Games, we still have a long way to go.”
Later on Friday, Cuba came from two sets down to beat the United States 22-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-11 to join Brazil in the unbeaten club.
“It was a very difficult game. The United States team is very technical and plays at a very calm level,” said Cuba Head Coach Antonio Perdomo. “It was very hard to win this game and for our team to stay concentrated during the game. I want the players to pull themselves together for the Beijing Olympics.”
The biggest surprise came in the last match when the Asian champions tamed World No. 2 Italy 25-23, 25-22, 26-24 to improve to a 1-2 win-loss record.
“We have not beaten Italy in straight sets since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, so I am very happy,” said Japan Head Coach Shoichi Yanagimoto. “I felt we could make the Japanese style.”
The Brazilian women, who were obviously in their top form, had no great trouble taking their second victory over the Chinese following a 3-0 rout in the Preliminary Round in Macao on Sunday.
“We found a lot of problems through this tournament,” said China Head Coach Chen Zhonghe. “We could not play to our standard and every player of our team was really tested physically.
“But I will not care too much about the results of this tournament, while it is more important for us to make adjustments accordingly so that we can play our best at the Olympic Games.”
