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Italy and Germany through to final round

Napoli, Italy, July 30, 2005 – After collecting their second victories from as many matches on Saturday both Italy and Germany confirmed their places in the final round of the 2006 Men’s World Championship on day two of the third round tournament – Europe Pool I in Napoli.

Italy beat the Ukraine 3-0 (25-13, 26-24, 25-14) with Alessandro Fei scoring 18 points while Christian Pampel was Germany’s main point scorer again with 21 points as they dismissed Spain 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 28-26) to put both teams on top of the four team table with two wins from two matches.

The group is the final 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: Simon Tischer sets for Norbert Walter as Germany attack against Spain
Russia, Poland, Greece and Serbia & Montenegro are already confirmed in the final round from Europe joining hosts Japan and defending champions Brazil, while Egypt, Kazahkstan, China, Iran, India, Australia, Argentina and Venezuela are also booked into the final round.

So with one day still remaining, Spain will the Ukraine at 16:00 GMT (18:00 local time) to see which team enters the playoff for a final round ticket, while Italy will take on Germany at 18:30 GMT (20:30 local time) for the tournament honours.