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2005 World Grand
Prix |
Final Round - Day Four
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Japanese students go wild for
Cuba |
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 Sendai,
Japan, July 15, 2005 - When in Rome...or, in
this case, when in Sendai, do as the
Japanese. For observers of Volleyball and of
the human characteristics that give
countries their special identity, it was a
remarkable sight to behold: The Cuban
women's Volleyball team, usually so
exuberant and raucous, sitting silently in a
Japanese classroom. Perhaps it was the first
time in their lives they had been lost for
words.
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Pic: Japan are passionate about their Volleyball
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Final Round - Day Three - Rest Day
Day Two
Day One
Special honour for
Italy
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Italy
v Cuba at 03:35 GMT (12:35 local time) |
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Third
time lucky for Italy? |
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Sendai,
Japan, July 16, 2005 - Having already
suffered at the hands of Olympic bronze medalists Cuba
twice during the 2005
World Grand Prix Preliminary Round, world champions
Italy will be hoping for a change of fortunes when they
meet in the opening match of Day Four of the Final Round
on Saturday. Cuba beat Italy 3-1 (19-25, 26-24, 25-23,
25-21) in Week Two and 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 30-28) in Week
One. Now, if ever there is a time for Italy, who also
lost to Cuba in the Olympic Games quarterfinals, to gain
revenge, this is it as another victory would put them in
an extremely healthy position going into the final two
days. For Cuba, a win is vital as it would effectively
put them out of the running with two games to play -
even considering those matches are against Japan and the
Netherlands - remembering the winner of the round-robin
finals becomes 2005 World Grand Prix champion.
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Netherlands
v China at 06:05 GMT (15:05 local time) |
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Do or
die battle for winless teams |
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Sendai,
Japan, July 16, 2005 - For Olympic champions
China and world number 14 the Netherlands, Saturday's match is a
must win affair if either of them want to continue entertaining
thoughts of challenging for the 2005 World Grand Prix title. China,
ranked number one in the world, have suffered two surprise defeats
to Cuba and Italy during the opening two days of the Final Round and
another loss to the Netherlands would extinguish any hope they have
of claiming the crown they won in 2003. It's the same story for the
Netherlands after they suffered defeats at the hands of Brazil and
Japan. These two sides have already played once in the 2005 World
Grand Prix in Week One of the Preliminary Round with China beating
the Netherlands 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-5).
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Brazil V Japan
at 09:00 GMT (18:00 local time) |
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Can
Japan do it this time? |
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Sendai,
Japan, July 16, 2005 - After two hours and
16 minutes of incredible Volleyball, Brazil prevailed
over Japan 3-2 (17-25, 17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 20-18) in
their epic Preliminary Round match in Tokyo. Nearly
12,000 fans were disappointed that day as defending
champions Brazil fought back from two sets down to claim
the honours in what was an amazing come back. Now the
question remains, will Sendai City Gymnasium be rocking
with applause due to a Japanese win this time? For
Japan's sake, they should hope so because another defeat
here would leave them with a gigantic uphill battle for
the remainder of the Final Round as it would mean Brazil
will remain undefeated with two matches to play.
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Photo of Final
Round
Day 2 |
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Full house and an electric atmosphere in the Sendai City
Gymnasium |
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Finals
Sendai, Japan
STARS
Scoring a point is something impossible for her as a libero, but it does not mean that Fabi is less important to Brazil having returned to the team after missing out on the Athens Olympics.
