Press release

Fukuoka, Japan, November 29, 2011 – The FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup Japan 2011 third round concludes on November 29 with six matches on tap before the tournament heads to two sites in Tokyo for the fourth and final round.

On the final third round day in Fukuoka, Poland (6-1, 19 points) play Egypt (1-6, 3 points) at 11.00, followed by Iran (5-2, 12 points) versus China (0-7, 1 point) at 15.00 and Japan (2-5, 8 points) hosting United States (3-4, 9 points) at 18.20. At Hamamatsu, Cuba (5-2, 14 points) and Russia (6-1, 18 points) start action with a key battle at 11.00, while Italy (5-2, 14 points) and Argentina (3-4, 9 points) face each other 15.00 and Brazil (5-2, 16 points) challenge Serbia (1-6, 3 points) at 18.20.

Half the field have either a 6-1 or 5-2 record while separating by only seven standings points, making an interesting last four days of competition to settle three spots into the 2012 Olympic Games. Poland leads the World Cup field with 19 points and a 6-1 record, followed by Russia with a 6-1 record and 18 points. Brazil maintain third place with a 5-2 record and 16 points despite a loss on November 28. Italy and Cuba rank fourth and fifth with 5-2 records and 14 points, while Iran remain in the chase for a podium berth and Olympics berth with a 5-2 record and 12 points. The bottom half of the standings include USA and Argentina at seven and eight with 3-4 records and nine points, followed by Japan in ninth place with a 2-4 record and eight points. Serbia and Egypt hold 1-6 records and three points, while China are at the bottom with one point and 0-7 record.

All told, the 12 World Cup teams will play 11 matches each over a 15-day schedule with the top three teams earning a berth into the 2012 Olympic Games.

Men’s World Cup Results/Standings, Match Info, Photos or Live Scoring

Third Round Pool A at Fukuoka

Poland versus Egypt
Poland remain in the lead of the FIVB World Cup with a 6-1 record and 19 points following a win over USA on November 28. Poland have also defeated Cuba, Argentina, Japan, Serbia and China, while their only loss is to Iran on the fourth day of competition. Egypt are currently 1-6 in the FIVB World Cup with three points, with their only win against No. 10 China.

Five Poland players have scored at least 67 points in the World Cup as Bartosz Kurek paces the team with 94 points and is closely followed by Zbigniew Bartman’s 91 points. Michal Winiarski has added 80 points, while Marcin Mozdzonek and Piotr Nowakowski have scored 70 and 67 points, respectively. Mozdzonek is the tournament’s leading blocker with 1.00 per set, while teammate Michal Winiasrski is the tournament’s leading receiver with a 56.98 efficiency percent. Ahmed Abdelhay leads Egypt with 109 points, but suffered a slight injury in the last match versus Iran. Mohamed Badawy has chipped in 56 points for Egypt.

Poland have won eight of nine meetings against Egypt with the last victory at the 2009 FIVB Grand Champions Cup in three sets. Overall, Poland have captured the last five matches in the series tthat dates back to the 1958 European Championship. Egypt’s lone win in the series was during the 2008 FIVB World League preliminary round.

Iran versus China
Iran rebounded from a straight set loss to USA to start the third round with a sweep of Egypt on November 28. Iran improved to 5-2 in the World Cup with 12 points, which includes wins other wins over Japan (3-1), Serbia (3-2), Poland (3-2) and Argentina (3-2) with a loss to Cuba (3-0). Meanwhile, China will be searching for their first win of the tournament when they play Iran. China did gain a point in the standings with a five-set loss to No. 1 Brazil.

Iranian Seyed Mehdi Bazargarde has scored 85 points to lead his team, while Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi and Alireza Nadi have added 67 and 66 points, respectively. Nadi ranks second in Best Blocker with 0.86 per set. The leading Chinese scorer in the tournament is Weijun Zhong with 67 points, while teammate Ping Chen has added 65 points.

Iran and China have faced each other only once before, an Iran five-set victory in the 1991 FIVB World Cup consolation round.

Japan versus USA
USA’s hope of reaching the World Cup podium and a 2012 Olympic Games berth through the World Cup are remote now that they have fallen to 3-4 with nine points and just four matches remaining. The North Americans have defeated Iran, Egypt and China, but have lost to top three powers Brazil, Russia and Italy as well as Poland in the most recent match on November 28. Japan picked up their second victory of the tournament with a sweep over Asia Volleyball Confederation rival China on November 28. The tournament host have now won two matches in a row after starting the third round with a win over Egypt.

USA’s Clayton Stanley has scored 12 points and ranks as the top server with 0.74 aces per set. Matthew Anderson has added 83 points for the North American squad. Japan are led in scoring by Kunihiro Shimizu with 110 points, while Yusuke Ishijima has contributed 66 points. Takeshi Nagano ranks atop the Best Digger category with 2.32 digs per set.

USA hold a sizeable 28-9 advantage over Japan in the all-time series, including a 3-0 victory to start the 2008 Olympic Games. The North Americans have won the last 14 meetings dating back to the 1995 FIVB World Cup. Japan’s last victory over the USA was during the 1993 FIVB Grand Champions Cup. The first meeting in the series was a four-set USA win at the 1960 FIVB World Championship.

Third Round Pool B at Hamamatsu

Cuba versus Russia
Russia hold a 6-1 record in the tournament with 18 points. Along the way, the Russians have defeated No. 3 Italy, No. 4 USA, No. 5 Serbia, No. 9 Argentina, No. 10 China and No. 12 Egypt. Russia’s lone loss was to No. 1 Brazil. Meanwhile, No. 6 Cuba have become giant killers in the third round with a four-set win over No. 3 Italy on Sunday and a five-set win over No. 1 Brazil to improve their record to 5-2 overall with 14 points. The Cubans also have victories over Iran (3-0), Japan (3-0) and Serbia (3-1), but have fallen to Poland (3-0) and Argentina (3-1).

Russia’s Maxim Mikhaylov leads his squad in scoring with 113 points, while Sergey Tetyukhin has added 56 points. Cuba is paced by Fernando Hernandez Ramos with 135 points for the second best in the tournament and a fourth-best 52.0 spike percent, while Wilfredo Leon Venero has contributed 108 points and ranks third in Best Spiker with a 52.5 conversion percent.

“Cuba are a strong and powerful team, and perhaps they have a chance for London [top three spots in the FIVB World cup earn berths into the 12-team Olympic Games],” Russia coach Vladimir Alekno said. “So after this game we’ll prepare for them and consider what we need to do to beat them.”

“Tomorrow against Russia will be tough,” said Leon, the Cuban captain. “We need to concentrate and do our best.”

Russia own a 37-19 record over Cuba in the all-time series, the last being a 3-0 win during the 2011 FIVB World League Final Round Pool F. Russia have won nine of the last 11 matches against Cuba. The last Cuban victory was during the 2009 FIVB World League preliminary round, but Russia would win the bronze medal match over Cuba three weeks later.

Argentina versus Italy
Italy rebounded from their loss to Cuba by beating Serbia (3-1) to improve to 5-2 with 14 points. Along with the win over Serbia, the Italians have now defeated Egypt (3-0), Brazil (3-2), China (3-0) and USA (3-1) against their losses to Cuba and Russia. Argentina dropped to 3-4 in the FIVB World Cup following a three-set loss to Russia on the middle day of the third round in Hamamatsu. Argentina hold victories over Serbia (3-0), Japan (3-2) and Cuba (3-1) with losses to Poland (3-1), Iran (3-2), Brazil (3-0) and now Russia.

Italy’s Michal Lasko is the tournament’s leading scorer with 141 total points, including 22 blocks with a 0.81 average for fourth place and a 53.3 attack percent for second in the tournament. The Italian captain Cristian Savani follows with 89 points. Facundo Conte has scored 99 points for Argentina during the 2011 FIVB World Cup and has been supported by Federico Pereyra’s 74 points. Argentina setter Luciana De Cecco leads the Best Setter category with 9.11 running sets average.

“We have to be better than today when we face Argentina,” Italy coach Mauro Berruto said. “We had an important match in Gdansk in the World League Finals. But from our side it doesn’t matter who is the opponent. We have four matches in front of us and we will try to win all four. It’s not easy but this is what we need to do to get our ultimate goal.”

“Italy is a very good team,” Argentina coach Javier Weber said. “I think maybe after Russia and Brazil, they are the best in this tournament. To win that match we need to play better than today — we need to win that match.”

Italy lead the all-time series with Argentina with a 17-6 record, but Argentina own the last victory in the series – 3-1 win during the 2011 FIVB World League Final Round preliminary pool. Before the 2011 match, Italy and Argentina had not faced other since a four-set Italy win during the 2004 Olympic Games quarterfinal round.

Serbia versus Brazil
Brazil lost their second match of the World Cup on Monday to No. 6 Cuba to fall to 5-2 on the tournament with 16 points, but remain in third place. The Brazilians have defeated Egypt (3-0), No. 4 USA (3-1), No. 2 Russia (3-0), China (3-2) and Argentina (3-0) with their other loss a heartbreaking five-setter to No. 3 Italy with a 22-20 fifth set. Serbia bring a 1-6 record into the match with Brazil with their only win against Japan in five sets. They have absorbed losses to Argentina (3-0), Poland (3-1), Iran (3-2), Cuba (3-1) and Russia (3-0).

Murilo Endres has posted 90 points with a 51.8 spike percent (fifth in the tournament) for a Brazil high during the World Cup, while Leandro Vissotto Neves has charted 79 points and Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba) 73 points. Brazil libero Sergio Dutra Santos is the tournament’s leading libero with 4.96 excellent passes and digs per set. Serbia has been playing a mixed lineup allowing for an overall balanced scoring from their players. Ivan Miljkovic leads Serbia with 86 points, followed by Dragan Stankovic with 56 points.

“We need to think about tomorrow,” Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende said. “I go back to the hotel sad because we lost, but we fight all the time, so I’m satisfied.”

“Tomorrow is a new beginning for us when we play Brazil,” Serbia coach Igor Kolakovic said. “We don’t have many opportunities to play them, but I hope tomorrow will be better than today.”

Brazil have won 22 of 28 meetings with Serbia, yet the all-time record does not properly showcase the closeness of the series. Six of the last seven matches have gone the full five sets with Brazil winning five of the tiebreaking sets. Further, neither team has earned a 3-0 victory in the last 10 matches. Brazil have won the last two matches in the series in five sets, including a 16-14 thrilling tiebreaker in the 2010 FIVB World League Final Round preliminary Group E. Serbia’s last victory was a five-set victory in the 2008 FIVB World League preliminary round in which all four head-to-head matches were decided in five sets.

Day 8 | November 29, 2011

FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup Highlights
Tournament Leading Scorers
1 Michal Lasko (ITA) 141 points
2 Fernando Hernandez Ramos (CUB) 136 points
3 Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS) 113
4 Clayton Stanley (USA) 112
5 Kunihiro Shimizu (JPN) 110

Top Scoring Performances
30 – Ahmed Abdelhay (EGY) v JPN on Nov. 27
27 – Michal Lasko (ITA) v BRA, Nov. 22
26 – Michal Lasko (ITA) v RUS, Nov. 20
26 – Bartosz Kurek (POL) v IRI, Nov. 24
25 – Michal Lasko (ITA) v USA, Nov. 25
25 – Clayton Stanley (USA) v IRI, Nov. 27
25 – Michal Lasko (ITA) v SRB, Nov. 28

Top Scorers by Day
November 20: 26 – Michal Lasko (Italy) versus Russia
November 21: 21 – Zbigniew Bartman (Poland) versus Serbia; Tatsuya Fukuzaka (Japan) versus Argentina
November 22: 27 – Michal Lasko (Italy) versus Brazil
November 24: 26 – Bartosz Kurek (Poland) versus Iran
November 25: 25 – Michal Lasko (Italy) versus USA
November 27: 30 – Ahmed Abdelhay (Egypt) versus Japan
November 28: 25 – Michal Lasko (Italy) versus Serbia

Top Blocking Performances
7 – Clayton Stanley (USA) v RUS on Nov. 27
7 – Alexander Volkov (RUS) v ITA on Nov. 20
7 – Michal Lasko (ITA) v BRA on Nov. 22
7 – Marcin Mozdzonek (POL) v JPN on Nov. 25
6 – Piotr Nowakowski (POL) v SRB on Nov. 21
6 – Alexander Butko (RUS) v USA on Nov. 22
6 – Sebastian Sole (ARG) v CUB on Nov. 24
6 – Yusuke Ishijima (JPN) v SRB on Nov. 24
6 – Alireza Nadi (IRI) v EGY on Nov. 28
6 – Isbel Mesa Sandobal (CUB) v BRA on Nov. 28 

Top Service Ace Performances
6 – Bartosz Kurek (POL) v IRI on Nov. 24
5 – Clayton Stanley (USA) v IRI on Nov. 27
4 – Maxim Mikyahlov (RUS) v CHN on Nov. 21
4 – Ivan Zaytsev (ITA) v BRA on Nov. 22
4 – Clayton Stanley (USA) v EGY on Nov. 24
4 – Sergey Tetyuhkin (RUS) v BRA on Nov. 24
4 – Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi (IRI) v ARG on Nov. 25
4 – Luciano De Cecco (ARG) v IRI on Nov. 25

Highest Set Score:
41-39 – ITA v USA (Set 1) on Nov. 25 (FIVB Men’s World Cup record)
30-28 – POL v SRB (Set 4) on Nov. 21

Highest Scoring Matches
220 – Italy beat USA 3-1 (41-39, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21) on Nov. 25
217 – Italy beat Brazil 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 18-25, 25-21, 22-20) on Nov. 22
211 – Iran beat Poland 3-2 (23-25, 28-26, 8-25, 26-24, 15-11) on Nov. 24
209 – Cuba beat Brazil 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12) on Nov. 28
204 – Iran beat Argentina 3-2 (15-12, 25-21, 24-26, 25-16, 15-12) on Nov. 25
203 – Iran beat Serbia 3-2 (25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-11) on Nov. 22
196 – Argentina beat Japan 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 11-25, 25-15, 15-12) on Nov. 21
193 – Brazil beat China 3-2 (23-25, 25-10, 25-18, 19-25, 15-8) on Nov. 25

For more information contact:
Site A (Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, Tokyo-Yoyogi Gymnasium) - Mr. Federico Ferraro
 +81 (0)80 2584 4622

Site B: (Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Toyama, Hamamatsu, Tokyo Metropolitan Stadium) - Mr. Bill Kauffman
 +81 (0)80 2584 4623

For all non urgent inquiries concerning the 2011 FIVB Men's World Cup please contact the FIVB Press Department at press@fivb.org.