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Serbia and Montenegro and Argentina
break tie breaker record
 Lausanne,
Switzerland, June 20, 2005 – Serbia and
Montenegro and Argentina were definitely
hard to separate in their two matches in
Round Four of the Intercontinental Round
last weekend with last year’s bronze
medallists winning both matches at home
3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-21) and 3-2
(25-21, 32-30, 27-29, 17-25, 34-32).
But the second match in Novi Sad, which
lasted two hours and 25 minutes, was
unbelievably tight with Serbia and
Montenegro and Argentina playing the
longest tie-break in the history of the
World League.
More
Pic: Serbia and Montenegro and
Argentina played for 34 minutes in the
tie break
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Brazil, Cuba & Poland hold finals tickets after Round Four
 Lausanne,
Switzerland, June 19, 2005 – With the winner’s of each of the
three pools in the 2005 World League Intercontinental Round
joining hosts Serbia and Montenegro in the four-team Final
Round, defending champions Brazil, world number 16 Cuba and
European heavyweights Poland are in pole position in their
respective groups in the race for qualifying for the finals,
following the completion of Round Four on Sunday.
More Pic: Tight
at the top - Cuba split their matches with Bulgaria in Pool B.
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Venezuela complete clean sweep of Japan
 June
19, 2005 – Venezuela completed a weekend
sweep of Japan in Pool A of the World League
with a 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) at
Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo on Sunday.
Venezuela had also beaten Japan in straight
sets on Saturday.
More
Pic: Japanese captain Masaji
Ogino blocks the spike of Venezuela's Carlos
Tejeda
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Italy top Pool B, Brazil and Serbia &
Montenegro win
 Lausanne,
Switzerland, June 18, 2005 – Last year’s
three World League medalists Brazil, Italy
and Serbia and Montenegro all collected
crucial victories on Saturday beating
Portugal, France and Argentina respectively
in the latest
matches of Round Four of the
Intercontinental Round.
More
Pic: Hugo Gaspar (21 points)
from Portugal, tries to find a hole in the
Brazilian defence as Brazil beat Portugal
3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18)
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Venezuela & Bulgaria stay in Final Round
contention
 June
18, 2005 – Both Venezuela and Bulgaria did
their chances of reaching the 2005 World
League Final Round a world of good by both
recording impressive victories over Japan
and Cuba respectively in their opening
matches of Round Four of the
Intercontinental Round.
More
Pic:
The atmosphere was electric in Havana's
Sports City Coliseum where Bulgaria beat
Cuba
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Two five-set thrillers see Italy &
Poland take the spoils
 Lausanne,
Switzerland, June 17, 2005 – Round Four
of the 2005 World League
Intercontinental Round started in
unbelievable style with two matches
going the distance on Friday. In Pool B
Italy beat France 3-2 (19-25, 18-25,
26-24, 25-17, 15-13) in Grenoble while
in Athens, Poland increased their lead
at the top of Pool C with a 3-2 (19-25,
25-21, 25-18, 18-25, 15-13) win over
Greece in Athens.
More
Pic: Gérald Hardy Dessources on attack
for France
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Top of the
table matches top the bill again
 Lausanne, Switzerland, June
17, 2005 - In golf, the penultimate day is
commonly know as moving day, where players
position themselves in order to challenge
for honours on the final run home. With
three more weeks remaining in the 2005 World
League Intercontinental Round the same
terminology can be applied to this weekend's
matches as Round Four is shaping up as a
crucial weekend for teams to position
themselves for the
run home.
More
French
Spanish
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Huge assignment ahead for Portugal in
Brazil
 June 18, 2005 –
World number 18 Portugal pulled off an
historic victory over World League
defending champions Brazil in Round Two
of the
Intercontinental Round and they will
need to do it again when the two top
sides in Pool A meet this weekend in
Brasilia.
Last time out Portugal had the advantage
of the home crowd and managed to split
their matches with the Olympic and world
champions but one sees an enormous
obstacle for the Europeans playing
Brazil at home in Round Four.More
Pic: Portugal's Hugo Gaspar faces a
massive Brazilian block when the two
teams met in Round Two
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Plenty at stake for Japan & Venezuela
in Pool A
 Tokyo,
Japan, June 17, 2005 - Although Portugal
and four-time champions Brazil are
dominating Pool A in the 2005 World
League, the head coaches of Japan and
Venezuela say they still have plenty to
play for this weekend.
At a press conference in Tokyo on Friday
evening, Japan's Tatsuya Ueta and
Venezuela's Eliseo Ramos said the World
League would continue to play an
important part in the overall
development of their respective teams.
More
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Crunch time in France
 June
17, 2005 – Two big European heavyweights
France and
Italy square off in Grenoble on Friday
night looking to hand the other side the
knock out punch in the race for the
Final Round.
Both teams are level in Pool B with
three wins and three defeats behind
leaders Cuba having split their matches
in every round of the Intercontinental
Round to date, so, either side who does
the double this weekend, could seriously
hamper their opponent’s chances of
reaching the Final Round.
More
Pic: Italy and France split their
matches in round two, both winning 3-0
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Greece
hoping to stop slide
 June
17, 2005 – After winning their opening
two matches, world number eight Greece
will be hoping to change a run which has
seen them win only one of the last four
games when they play Pool C leaders
Poland in Athens tonight.
It is by no means a crisis but Greece,
who currently sit second in the pool
with three wins from six matches,
suffered two defeats at the hands of
Poland, who have five victories to their
name, in week two and with the winner of
the group advancing to the final round
and only three rounds remaining in the
Intercontinental Round, two wins to
Poland, could leave the world number
seven needing only victory from their
remaining four matches.
More
Pic: Poland beat Greece twice at home
in round two
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Thumbs up for Belgrade ahead
of Final Round
Lausanne, Switzerland, June 16, 2005 - The
venue for the 2005 World League Final Round
in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro was
inspected last weekend and given an
outstanding endorsement by Managing Director
of the World League Council Mr. Franz
Schmied who said; "The Hall is amazing and I
believe that the Final Round in Belgrade
will be a real spectacle for everyone."
More
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One change for Argentina
 June
15, 2005 – Following last weekend’s win
and loss 3-2 (17-25, 23-25, 25-23,
30-28, 15-13) and 1-3 (21-25, 19-25,
25-19, 14-25) against Greece in round
three of the 2005 World League
Intercontinental Round, Argentina coach
Fabian Armoa has made just one change to
his team of 12 players.
Argentina travel to Belgrade on
Wednesday for the first of two Pool C
matches against last year’s bronze
medallists Serbia & Montenegro with the
left handed 24-year-old Santiago
Darraidou replacing opposite Lucas
Chavez.
More
Pic: Argentina's block has been one
of the best parts of their game
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Serbia and Montenegro stars set to
return
 June
14, 2005 – Three of Serbia and
Montenegro’s super stars Nikola Grbić,
Ivan Miljković and Andrija Gerić are
expected to make their first appearances
in the 2005 World League this weekend in
round four of the Intercontinental Round
as the final round hosts prepare to
welcome Argentina.
The 2000 and 2004 Olympians, who play
setter, wing spiker and middle blocker
respectively, have missed the opening
three rounds as part of their recovery
from a busy season and of coach Ljuba
Travica’s plan to introduce new talent
into the Serbia and Montenegro system.
More
Pic: Ivan Miljković (14) and Andrija
Gerić (12) form part of the Serbia and
Montenegro defence against Brazil in
last year's World League final round |
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Competition Formula
