Russia and Brazil top individual pools
 Visakhapatnam,
India, August 8, 2005 - Top guns, Russia in Pool A and
Brazil in Pool B, are heading for No. 1 spots in their
respctive groups with their third successive victory in the
13th World junior men (under 21) Volleyball championship
here on Monday.
Russia outplayed Morocco, using it for service practice, in
three sets (25-18, 25-17, 25-16) and Brazil tamed a fighting
Holland 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-17).
Other results on Monday saw Cuba beat Serbia Montenegro 3-0
(25-22, 25-21, 25-18) and Korea beat India 3-0 (25-16,
25-21, 25-16) in Pool A while in Pool B, Germany beat
Tunisia 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-23) and Iran beat U.S.A. 3-1
(25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23).
Pic: Fascinating clash - USA v Iran on Monday
A clear picture is emerging and on Tuesday, the rest day,
both teams can plan their further progress in the
competition. And now the battle for No. 2 spots is heating
up. Cuba and Korea, with a 2-1 record, are likely to be the
challengers.
Having beaten India comfortably on Monday, Korea is now in
the race and the Cuba-Korea showdown on Thursday will decide
the issue.
With their fourth successive defeat, Morocco is at the
bottom of Pool A.
With a 2-1 record, Holland, Iran and Germany are fighting
for the second position in Pool B and with three sraight
losses, USA and Tunisia are slipping to the last rung in
that group.
All in all it was a rather tame day and only the
Brazil-Netherland encounter held some attention. But the
Dutch fell to the deceptive game of Brazil, who committed
more errors (32), but still won the match.
Two Asian squads, Korea and Iran, have done well so far and
India has fallen behind. |
Competition Formula
