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World League 2005 News
Brazil, Cuba and Portugal join Poland and
Greece with two wins
 Lausanne,
Switzerland, May 29, 2005 – The opening weekend
of the 2005 World League drew to a close on
Sunday amongst scenes of great colour and
support from fans around the world and after the
first round, five teams - defending champions
Brazil, Cuba, Portugal, Poland and Greece – all
managed to collect two wins from as many
matches.
With Poland (7*) and Greece (8=) having gone top
of Pool C on Saturday after collecting their
second victories over Argentina (8=) and Serbia
& Montenegro (3) respectively, Sunday saw
Portugal beat Japan 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-16,
25-19) and Brazil beat Venezuela 3-2 (23-25,
25-21, 25-10, 20-25, 15-13) to send both sides
to the head of Pool A. Meanwhile, Cuba went to
the top of Pool B alone after beating Bulgaria
3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-23) after Italy had
reversed a straight sets loss to France on
Friday with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-13) win.
Pic: The atmosphere in Catania was
electric as Italy beat France on Sunday
The 2003 and 2004 champions Brazil (1), who beat
Venezuela 3-1 (25-19, 32-34, 25-22, 37-35) on
Saturday, nearly had their record of successive
World League victories broken by an impressive
Venezuela (13=) outfit in Caracas but their
experience and firepower took them to win number
23 dating back to 2003. However, the Olympic and
world champions sit in second spot in Pool A on
set ratio difference after Portugal (18)
conceded only one set against a youthful
Japanese (17) side, who look to have unveiled a
new star in Marcos Sugiyama, having also beaten
them 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-22) in Guimaraes on
Saturday.
In Pool B, a young and exciting Cuban side are
on top with two victories over last year’s World
League finalists Bulgaria(13=) including a 3-1
(26-24, 16-25, 25-20, 25-19) win on Friday. In a
repeat of 2003, Bulgaria fell to Cuba (16) in
their opening match after making too many
mistakes including 21 at the service line and in
front of 5,500 disbelieving eyes Romero Poey led
Cuba to an impressive double in Varna. Last
year’s silver medalists Italy (2) are second
ahead of France (6) only on point ratio after
both teams, boasting new lineups, shared
straight set victories in Sicily including
France’s (26-24, 25-17, 25-22) win on Friday
where Gabriel Zobo scored an impressive 22
points.
The third and final group (Pool C) sees an
injury plagued Greek side lead the pool on set
ratio difference ahead of Poland after beating a
young Serbia and Montenegro team 3-0 (26-24,
25-18, 25-21) on Friday and 3-1 (23-25, 25-22,
25-16, 25-19) on Saturday in Athens. Poland,
meanwhile, overcame injury problems of their own
to defeat Argentina twice at home 3-1 (25-20,
23-25, 25-23, 25-23) and 3-1 (19-25, 25-22,
25-21, 25-22).
With six rounds in total, the winner’s of each
pool qualify for the four-team final round in
Belgrade. In the case of Pool C, if Serbia and
Montenegro, who automatic qualify for the final
round as hosts, win the pool, the next best team
advances.
* Denotes: World Ranking
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