On Saturday defending champions Russia will take on Peru, who finished fourth in Pool A, in their first second-round match while world No.1 Brazil face Thailand in Pool F after the Asians narrowly qualified from Pool C. Elsewhere Italy face a tough match against Germany and hosts Japan play China.

The FIVB Women’s World Championship involves 24 teams and runs from October 29 to November 14. After five cities hosted matches in the first round, only two cities provide venues for the second round, semifinals and finals. The top 16 teams from the four first-round (Oct 29 - Nov 3) pools have advanced to the second round (Nov 6 - Nov 10), and the top six teams from each of the upcoming two pools will advance to the semifinals (Nov 13) and finals (Nov 14).

Pool E in Tokyo
Serbia (9) v Turkey (22) at 10.30
Serbia will be pleased with their first-round performance but lost their footing in their last game against Japan, going down 3-1. Turkey are still on track to match their 10th-place finish at the last World Championship in 2006, but it will take a monstrous effort to ensure they can improve on it. This will be the second meeting between the two countries, with their only previous encounter going Serbia’s way.

Peru (17) v Russia (7) at 12.45
Russia enter the second round unbeaten after winning all five matches in Pool D while Peru had a rough time in Pool A, losing to Poland, Serbia and Japan but beating Costa Rica and Algeria to reach this stage. With both sides at either end of Pool E, Russia will be the favourites to continue unbeaten in this match. The fact that Peru have never beaten the defending champions in five meetings underlines that the South American side have it all to do.

Poland (8) v Korea (21) at 15.00
Korea had a promising first round with four wins from five and will take confidence from that. However, despite being above Poland in the group, they have only beaten them three times in the past while the eastern European side have recorded seven wins against their opponents. While history is not on Korea’s side momentum is following a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Turkey on Wednesday while Poland won an unchallenging match against Algeria.

Japan (5) v China (3) at 18.00
Japan had a faultless start to their campaign, winning all their first-round fixtures while China looked incredibly shaky during their pool matches, losing to Korea and Turkey. Although China coach Yu Juemin was only recently picked to lead the side, he knows that he needs results in Japan so he will hope his charges have already begun their road to recovery. Meanwhile, the host side will not want to disappoint their fans, especially not in a contest with Asian rivals such as China. The two sides have met 42 times in the past with Japan winning just six games.

Pool F in Nagoya
The Netherlands (10) v Cuba (6) at 11.00
In 15 meetings between Cuba and the Netherlands the Caribbean side have come out on top 13 times so picking up a win in this match could be seen as daunting task for the Dutch. However, the girls in orange have proved they are a hard nut to crack in the past, and with Cuba only winning two of their five Pool C matches, neither team can claim to have momentum on their side. Cuba finished their first-round campaign by going down to rivals USA 3-1 but should have remained in good spirits knowing that a solid few matches in Pool F could earn them a spot in the semifinals.

Czech Republic (38) v USA (2) at 13.15
The Czech Republic are now the lowest-ranked side in the tournament yet that will not stop them believing they can pick up a second shock win of the tournament, the first having come against Italy (3-2) last Tuesday. The USA’s statistics from Pool C make for intimidating reading as they are yet to be beaten and have only dropped two sets. The current World Grand Prix champions also have two prolific scorers in Destinee Hooker and Foluke Akinradewo and can be a threat to any side. The last time the pair met in a FIVB competition was at the 1994 World Championship where the USA scored a straight-sets win.

Brazil (1) v Thailand (12) at 15.30
Thailand reached the second round by the skin of their teeth following a tight contest with Croatia and Cuba in Pool C. Despite winning two matches they only qualified thanks to their points’ ratio, but nonetheless they will be happy to still be challenging the world’s best. Brazil came through Pool B without any slip-ups, winning all five matches and losing just two sets and are on course for their target of a place in the final. The two sides last met at the 2009 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup where Brazil won in straight sets.

Italy (4) v Germany (15) at 18.00
Only a loss to 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix champions USA stopped Germany from topping Pool C as they finished the first round with four wins from five matches. Meanwhile Italy had an inconsistent round in Pool B, beating the Netherlands but suffering an unexpected defeat by the Czech Republic. And following the 2009 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup winners’ straight-sets loss to Brazil, they will be desperate to get their campaign back on track.

First Round Pool Standings
Pool A (Tokyo): Japan 10, Serbia 9, Poland 8, Peru 7, Costa Rica 6, Algeria 5
Pool B (Hamamatsu): Brazil 10, Netherlands 8, Italy 8, Czech Republic 8, Puerto Rico 6, Kenya 5
Pool C (Matsumoto): USA 10, Germany 9, Cuba 7, Thailand 7, Croatia 7, Kazakhstan 5
Pool D (Osaka): Russia 10, Korea 9, Turkey 8, China 7, Dominican Republic 6, Canada 5

Highest Scorer By Day
Day 1 (1^st Rd): 28 points by Destinee Hooker (USA) in USA’s 3-1 win over Thailand in Matsumoto
Day 2 (1^st Rd): 35 points by Manon Flier (NED) in Italy’s 3-2 win over the Netherlands in Hamamatsu

Day 3 (1^st Rd): 27 points by Neslihan Darnel (TUR) in Turkey’s 3-2 win over the Dominican Republic in Osaka
Day 4 (1^st Rd): 34 points by Aneta Havlickova (CZE) in Czech Republic’s 3-2 win over Italy in Hamamatsu
Day 5 (1^st Rd): 29 points by Neslihan Darnel (TUR) in Korea’s 3-2 win over Turkey in Osaka

Highest Set Score

34-32 (CRO v CUB in Pool C) played on October 29 (Day 1) in Matsumoto and (PER v CRC in Pool A) played on November 3 in Tokyo. * Women’s World Championship records

Highest Scoring Matches

235 (CZE v ITA in 1^st Round) 3-2 (25-27, 27-29,         25-23, 25-22, 17-15) played on November 2 in Hamamatsu
220 (POL v JPN in 1st Round) 2-3 (28-26, 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 12-15) played on October 29 in Tokyo
218 (NED v ITA in 1^st Round) 2-3 (25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 28-26, 12-15) played on October 30 in Hamamatsu
212 (TUR v DOM in 1^st Round)         3-2 (25-20, 25-14, 23-25, 23-25, 17-15) played on October 31 in Osaka
211 (CZE v BRA in 1^st Round) 2-3 (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 9-15) played on October 30 in Hamamatsu

Tournament Top Scorers

132 Neslihan Darnel (TUR)
99 Saori Kimura (JPN)
97 Yeon-Koung Kim (KOR)
95 Prisilla Rivera Brens (DOM)
93 Manon Flier (NED)

Birthdays on November 5

Antonella Del Core (ITA) turns 30

FIVB Tournaments Coming Soon

FIVB Club World Championships (December 14-21, 2010)  in Doha, Qatar

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships (June 17-26, 2011) Rome, Italy