2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: France

France in driver’s seat

Le Cannet, France, July 29, 2005 – Hosts France collected their second win from as many matches after they beat the Czech Republic 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-14) on day two of the 2006 Men’s World Championship third round tournament – Europe Pool K in Le Cannet on Friday. They now lead the four team tournament ahead of the Czech Republic (1-1 win-loss record) and the Netherlands, who recorded their first win with a 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-22) win over Finland.

The group is the third of four European third round tournaments being played this month where the top two sides from each tournament claim final round tickets. Since Europe has nine vacancies in the final round in Japan, the third placed side in each tournament will enter a four-way play-off for the one remaining ticket.
Pic: The Czech Republic's Jiri Novak attacks against the Netherlands
France (ranked sixth in the world) are 2-0 from two games, the Czech Republic (24th) and the Netherlands (13th) are 1-1 while Finland (32nd) have yet to win a match.

France just need to beat the Netherlands on Saturday to secure a final round spot, although a loss could still see them advance depending on how many sets they win.

On Saturday the Czech Republic play Finland at 16:00 GMT (18:00 local time) followed by France taking on the Netherlands at 19:00 GMT (21:00 local time).