Four go home after first
round
 Macau,
China, July 25, 2005 - And then there were 12...The
Girls'U18 World Championship began with 16 teams on
Saturday, but four were eliminated on the completion of the
preliminary round on Monday.
The four were Macau (Pool A), Austria (Pool B), Puerto Rico
(Pool C) and Tunisia (Pool D).
In Pool A, Argentina, as expected, beat Macau 3-0 (25-17,
25-18, 25-21) to finish with a 2-1 record. Macau (0-3) were
eliminated.
Croatia beat Egypt 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-16) to finish on
top of the group.
In Pool B, Ukraine finally won a game, after suffering two
consecutive five-set losses, to Austria and China. The
eastern Europeans defeated the previously unbeaten Korea 3-1
(25-19, 20-25, 27-25, 25-17) to improve their record to 1-2
and stay in the championship. Korea slipped to 2-1 after
having trouble blocking the tall Ukrainian
spikers.
Austria lost 3-1 to China (25-18, 23-25, 30-28, 25-21) to
finish at the bottom of the group, after starting the
championship with a thrilling 3-2 win over Ukraine.
In Pool C, Russia beat Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-19)
to send the Central Americans home with a 0-3 record from a
tough group. It was Russia's second straight victory after
an opening day loss to Belarus.
The Puerto Ricans stayed around to cheer on Brazil, and
celebrated their 3-0 victory over Belarus (25-21, 25-20,
25-17).
In Pool D, USA downed Italy 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-23) in a
wonderful game that would have graced the final.
The game began at a fast pace and never let up, but Italy's
head coach, Giuseppe Galli, felt his players "did not use
their brain at the important moment."
"USA played a very good match," he added.
Earlier in Pool D, Chinese Taipei had been far too fast and
agile for Tunisia, winning 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-14) to send
the North Africans home. Both teams had lost their previous
two games, but the Chinese were much
more motivated and determined to stay in the tournament. |
Competition Formula
