Presentation

Morocco Ready to repeat the success in Casablanca - Morocco Volleyball Federation became ready to host the second successive US$15,000 FIVB Men's Satellite Beach Volleyball Championship in Plage Ain Diab in Casablanca, Morocco July 21-24 July. Aiming to repeat the great success of the last year's competition, the federation helped by the promoters arranged the venue with a bigger tribune to receive the increased capacity of volleyball fans. The qualification tournament will be July 21 followed by a 16-team double elimination Main Draw. "We aim to improve more than the last year's competition and to have more attendance of spectators," said Morocco Volleyball Federation President Abdelhadi Ghazali. "We hope to have more teams from Africa as this will widespread the sport in more zones especially in the western part of the continent. The success of this satellite championship will help us to upgrade our competition to SWATCH-FIVB World tours in future." Morocco Volleyball federation Member and Chief of Communication department, Mrs. Touria Aarab added that the "competition will be a great chance for more widespread of the sport in the country especially because we have long beaches by the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean."

Gold Medal Match - Ficosecco/Domenghini def. Ingeborgrud/Kobbevik, 21-19, 21-17 (43 minutes)

Bronze Medal Match - Boukhare/Ourhdach won by forfeit over Berma/Satour Morocco

Men's 2005 Challenger/Satellite Results

Finland, Turku (6/17-19, 2005, $10,000)
1. Martins Plavins.Aleksandrs Samoilous Latvia 15 $2,000.00 20.0
2. Andris Krumins/Ruslas Sorokins Latvia 7 $1,500.00 18.0
3. Ian Borges/Pedro Solberg Salgado Brazil 16 $1,200.00 16.0
4. Leonid Kalinine/Pavel Karpukhin Russia 4 $800.00 14.0
Gold Medal - Plavins/Samoilous def. Krumins/Sorokins, 19-21, 21-18, 15-12 (54 minutes)
Bronze Medal - Solberg Salgado/Borges def. Karpukhin/Kalinine, 21-15, 19-21, 15-12 (52)

Italy, Cagliari (7/1-3, 2005, $30,000)
1. Kay Matysik/Markus Popp Germany, $4,800
2 Eugenio Amore/Riccardo Fenili Italy, $3,900
3. Ian Borges/Pedro Solberg Salgado Brazil, $3,000
4. Daniel Krug/Mischa Urbatzka Germany, $2,300
Gold Medal - Matysik/Popp Germany def. Amore, 21-17, 21-19 (40)
Bronze Medal - Solberg Salgado/Borges won by forfeit over Krug/Urbatzka

Italy, Roseto degli Abruzzi (7/7-10, 2005, $30,000)
1. Jan Ferreira/Para Ferreira, Brazil, $4,800
2. Alex Acco/Luizao Correa, Brazil, $3,900
3. Mariano Baracetti/Pedro Depiaggio, Argentina, $3,000
4. Fabio Galli/Andrea Raffaelli, Italy, $2,300
Gold Medal - Jan/Para def. Luizao/Alex, 21-16, 27-25 (47)
Bronze Medal - Baracetti/Depiaggio def. Galli /Raffaelli, 21-17, 23-21 (52)

Italy, Rimini (7/15-17, 2005, $30,000)
1. Alex Acco/Luizao Correa, Brazil, $4,800
2. Ricardo Lione/Matteo Varnie, Italy, $3,900
3. Eugenio Amore/Riccardo Fenili, Italy, $3,000
4. Andrea Ghiurghi/Gianni Mascagna, Italy, $2,300
Bronze Medal - Amore/Fenili def. Ghiurghi/Mascagna, 21-18, 21-19 (49)
Gold Medal - Alex/Luizao def. Lione/Varnier, 21-14, 21-16 (34)

The old city of Casablanca is conveniently located � just off the main town square from where all avenues radiate, and near the sea. But as you enter, you will see that it is not all that old after all, that the houses here often have a form and size which would have made them natural elements in the "new" parts of many other Moroccan cities. But still, it is very nice, even if it is surprisingly small. The best parts of the old city is made up of shopping areas, where all types of products are sold, and you should not either miss out on the less visited quarters � the areas where people live � where colours and shapes and curves brings you far away from elegance of downtown Casablanca.