Beijing, China, August 4, 2008 - The Chinese Men’s team appeared at their first open training session Monday afternoon at the newly-renovated Capital Indoor Stadium.

The lineup of captain Shen Qiong, spikers Cui Jianjun, Yuan Zhi, Yu Dawei, setter Jiao Shuai and libero Ren Qi is highly possible to be the team’s starting one, almost the same squad for China at the recent World League tournament.

During the 90-minute training, the team, all in their newly-designed red and white jerseys, were divided into two groups with the main squad all on one side.

“The guys are all in good shape and we’re happy there is no serious injuries now,” said Song Weiping, the team’s doctor.

Head coach Jianan Zhou seems to be more relaxed while dealing with media than his counterpart Zhonghe Chen, Head Coach of the Chinese Women, who kept quiet throughout the team’s first training session at the other competition venue, the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium, also on Monday afternoon.

The Brazilians are still the best and the Russians seem unable to shorten the gap.

I have written many times that I’m actually impressed by the South Americans consistency: they are non-stop leading the Volleyball World since 2002. They keep on working even harder (if it’s possible), playing with enthusiasm and uncommon willpower. Therefore the level of their performances are unreachable by the opponents.

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.

 

“We cannot face this result as a real test for Brazil” said Bernardo Rezende, the Brazilian Head Coach. “Russia made many mistakes and did not play in the way they use to do. We need to keep improving.”

 

Russian Head Coach Vladimir Alekno replied: “It is always the same story when we play against Brazil. We dispute point by point and, in the end, they go ahead. We made many mistakes on serving and this was the difference.”

 

In the second match of the day, looking for their first title in FIVB World League, the teams of Serbia and USA opened the Pool F. In the end of the match, the European team won by 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-17) and added their first two points in the rankings. The spiker Ivan Miljkovic, of Serbia, led all scorers with 16 points. The American Clayton Stanley made 10 points.

 

Serbian Captain Nikola Grbic commented: “I am pretty satisfied with our game, especially in block and defense. I really hope we can keep this rhythm until Beijing.”

Lausanne, July 16, 2008 – The sixth and final weekend of Intercontinental Round action in the 2008 FIVB World League approaches with two berths still to be decided for the Final Round in Rio de Janeiro. Host Brazil, Pool B winner Russia, Pool C winner USA and FIVB wild card Japan are all confirmed for the Finals through July 23-27. France and Serbia are battling it out for the qualifying place behind Brazil in Pool A, while Poland need to stay ahead of China in Pool D to clinch their place.

Serbia, who have a 5-5 win-loss record with 15 points host France (6-4 with 16 points) in two crunch matches on Friday, July 18, in Nis and Sunday, July 20, in Belgrade, both matches starting at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT).

Poland (7-3 with 17 points) host Egypt on Friday, July 18, in Poznan at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) and Sunday, July 20, in Bydgoszcz at 15:00 local time (13:00 GMT). China (5-5 with 15 points) play away in Osaka against Japan (4-6) with matches on Saturday, July 19, at 15:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and Sunday, July 20, at 14:00 local time (05:00 GMT).

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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.”

Women’s Tournament
Pool A: 1. China, 2. Cuba, 3. USA, 4. Japan, 5. Poland, 6. Venezuela
Pool B: 1. Brazil 2. Italy, 3. Russia, 4. Serbia, 5. Kazakhstan, 6. Algeria

Men’s Tournament
Pool A: 1. China, 2. USA, 3. Bulgaria, 4. Italy, 5. Japan, 6. Venezuela
Pool B: 1. Brazil, 2. Russia, 3. Poland, 4. Serbia, 5. Egypt, 6. Germany

Quarter-finals
The top four teams in each Preliminary Round pool will advance to the quarter-finals, which will start on Tuesday, August 19 as follows.
A1 vs. B4
B1 vs  A4

A Drawing of lots will determine the opponents of teams A2 and A3 and decide which of these two teams will play against B2 and which one shall meet B3.

Semi-finals
The four winners of the quarter-finals will then advance to the semi-finals under the following format:
Winner A1/B4 vs. Winner (A2/B3 or B2, as resulted after draw)
Winner B1/A4 vs. Winner (A3/B3 or B2, as resulted after draw)

Finals
The two winners of the semi-finals will play the gold-medal match. The two losers of the semi-finals will play the bronze-medal match.

The tournaments are scheduled from Saturday, August 9, to Sunday, August 24, playing Women’s matches one day and alternating Men’s matches the following day.

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

Who are the favourites? Brazil stand out to win the mens Olympic Volleyball tournament, they have been all conquering in the last few years. Between the rest it has got to be close. Italy are seemingly getting back on track, Russia and Bulgaria are always strong, the USA are never far off and Serbia are the recent European Champions. It’s going to be a close race to see who wins the ultimate Olympic Volleyball honors for the men.

The womens comp will also be a tight race, Italy, Russia and Brazil have to be up there, however China recently downing Italy is interesting, they may be back on track to their best to take out Gold at home.  Serbia are surprise packets and USA and Cuba are always strong. Expect another close battle in the womens olympic volleyball competition.

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.

The Chinese and Italy came together in a clash of the remaining unbeaten sides in Hong Kong on Sunday and China prevailed in an epic five-setter, 18-25, 25-20, 21-25, 27-25, 15-8.

“I would like to thank the team for their effort during difficult times today, they were able to perform to their standard, but still some opportunities were not seized well enough,” China Head Coach Chen Zhonghe said after the match against the Italians. “Zhao Ruirui has missed Volleyball matches for three years due to injury. This tournament gave her a chance to re-build confidence.

“We are going to face many strong teams in the Olympics, including six to seven teams that are of world standard. We have to strive very hard and the results will depend much on their performance in court.”

Lausanne, June 16, 2008 – The 2008 edition of the FIVB World Grand Prix, the premier annual Women’s competition featuring the world’s best players, begins this weekend with Preliminary Round matches through June 20-22 in Japan, China and Italy.

Two-time winners USA, hosts Japan, Turkey and Kazakhstan will play against each other at the Green Arena in Kobe in Pool A.

Six-time winners Brazil, hosts China, the 2003 champions, Thailand and Germany come together in Pool B in Ningbo at the Beilun Sports Centre, the scene of last year’s Final Round.

In Pool C at the Palaravizza Hall in Alassio, hosts Italy, two-time winners Cuba, Poland and Dominican Republic will face each other.

The 2008 edition involves the teams playing a total of 69 matches over four consecutive weekends in 10 cities. The Preliminary Rounds end the weekend of July 4-6, with each team playing nine matches over the first three weekends.

The other Preliminary Rounds take place in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, Wroclaw, Poland, and Hong Kong on the second weekend and Bangkok, Thailand, Taipei, Chinese Taipei, and Macau the third.

The Final Round in Yokohama will be contested between Japan as organizing country and the best five teams from the Preliminary Rounds in a round-robin format through July 9-13.

In 2007, the Netherlands won their first major trophy in FIVB competitions with a perfect record in the Final Round, becoming the sixth team to win the renowned title and snapping Brazil’s run of three straight triumphs. They did not qualify for the 2008 edition.

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.