Men's World Cup
Coaches quotes ahead of World Cup
Tokyo, Japan, November 15, 2003 - The 2003 Men's World Cup begins on Sunday in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Nagano and here is what the coaches of the 12 competing teams had to say: More Pic: The six coaches (left to right - Di Anhe, China. Stelio DeRocco, Canada. Veselin Vukovic, Egypt. Ljubomir Travica, Serbia and Montenegro. Mikiyasu Tanaka, Japan. Doug Beal - USA) at Site A in Tokyo join together ahead of the opening day's play on Sunday Coach Profiles World Cup Schedule Team Profiles Player Profiles

Men's Olympic qualifier starts Sunday
Tokyo, Japan, November 14, 2003 - The 2003 FIVB World Cup of men's Volleyball gets underway on Sunday in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Nagano with 12 of the world's best teams fighting for fast-track entry into the 2004 Olympic tournament. At the end of this round robin contest on November 30 the top three ranked teams directly qualify for Athens 2004. More Pic: The Metropolitan Gymnasium  in Tokyo where the opening and final matches will be staged

Men's World Cup begins Sunday for USA in Japan
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., November 14, 2003 - The USA men's national Volleyball team begins its journey to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, on Sunday in Tokyo, Japan when the 2003 Men's World Cup begins. More Pic: USA celebrate victory over Brazil at 2002 World Champs

Brazilian Team ready for Cup campaign
Brazilian men’s coach Bernardo Rezende has named his 12 players who will attempt to add the World Cup title to their 2003 trophy collection, which already includes the World League and the South American continental championship, when the Olympic qualifying event starts in Japan on Sunday. Rezende’s squad includes setters Maurício and Ricardinho, Anderson and André Nascimento as opposites, attackers Giba, Giovane, Dante and Nalbert, Gustavo, Rodrigão and Andres Heller (middle) and líbero Escadinha. More Pic: Brazil celebrate their victory at the 2003 World League

Olympic Games spot sole goal for France
November 7, 2003 - Philippe Blain, the head coach of the French men's team, says expect to see a different French side at the 2003 World Cup to the one, which stuttered to a 10th place finish at the World League earlier in the year. More
Pic: France will need all the support they can get to achieve their goal
 
Brazilian boys gearing up for World Cup
November 6, 2003 - Brazilian coach Bernardo Rezende has grouped together 13 players in a pre-World Cup training camp in Italy before naming his 12-strong squad on Sunday for the first Olympic qualifying event.Giovane, André Heller, Henrique, André Nascimento, Anderson, Escadinha and Ricardinho have joined Nalbert, Rodrigão, Maurício, Gustavo, Dante and Giba, who all play in the Italian Championship, in Saint Croce, Italy where they have been training all week. More
Pic: Rezende is putting his squad through their paces this week

French squad named
November 05, 2003 - French coach Philippe Blain has named his 12-man squad for the Men's 2003 World Cup, which starts on November 16 in Japan. Blain has cut his 18-strong squad to the required 12 and included all the big names, who impressed so much at the 2002 World Championship in Argentina where the Tricolors claimed the bronze medal. More
Pic: French coach Philippe Blain with his team during the 2003 World League
 
Egypt men prepare for World Cup with Osaka camp
November 4, 2003 - The Egyptian men's Volleyball team is preparing to leave for Japan on Friday where they will compete in the Men's World Cup, which runs from November 16-30, and will enter a training camp, which includes three friendly matches, in Osaka straight away to get themselves set for one of the biggest competition's in their federation's history. More Pic: Egyptian head coach Veselin Vukovic coached Serbia and Montenegro during the 2003 World League

Alexandro Fei out for World Cup
Tokyo, Japan, Nov 3, 2003 – Italy will come to the World Cup without their star middle blocker Alexandro Fei, who broke his ankle in the Italian League on Saturday, according to Italian Federation press officials here in Japan with the Women's World Cup. Fei, a stalwart of the national team and a dominant presence at the net, was playing for his club team Sisely Treviso against Padua. Sisely Treviso lost the match 3-2. More Pic: Fei, here in action for Italy, will be sadly missed in Japan
 
French captain leaves Russia for World Cup
October 29, 2003 - Captain of the French team Dominique Daquin will leave from Moscow for Tokyo when the French national men's squad heads to Japan for the Men's World Cup. After 10 years in the French league and three seasons in the Italian Championship, Daquin, 29, has taken the plunge and signed to play for Russian club Dynamo Moscow. He has signed a one year contract with one of the most prestigious and richest clubs in Russia. More Pic: Dominique Daquin in true spiking mode against the Czech Republic during the 2003 World League French star profiles Team profile

Canada announces World Cup selection
October 21, 2003 - Canada has announced its 12-man squad for the 2003 Men's World Cup in Japan, which runs from November 16-30. The World Cup is the first official FIVB Olympic Qualifier, with the top three placing teams gaining berths to the 2004 Athens Olympics. "Qualifying for this year's World Cup means a great deal to this program and team," head coach Stelio DeRocco told Volleyball Canada. "Being the first of three Olympic qualifying tournaments, the calibre of teams at the World Cup and the tournament format will no doubt require us to play at a very high and intense level. More Canada in action against Polan at the 2002 World Championship where they finished 17th Canadian star profiles

France unveil squad for World Cup
October 13, 2003 - European Continental Men’s Championship runners up France named their squad for the 2003 World in Japan, which starts on November 16, on Monday. Coach Philippe Blain has named an 18-man squad which is notable for the absence of France’s most experienced player Luc Marquet, who, with more than 300 international caps, retired after the European Championship in September. More
Pic: Stephane Antiga (blonde hair) and France are all set for the World Cup

Bernardinho names squad for World Cup
October 9, 2003 - The coach of the Brazilian men's team Bernardo Rezende unveiled a 20-strong squad on Wednesday for the 2003 Men's World Cup, which will be held in Japan from November 16-30. Bernardinho, as he is more affectionately known, named all of Brazil's stars including Gilberto Godoy Filho, Maurício Lima and captain Nalbert Bitencourt while Gustavo Endres returns to the side after missing most of the 2003 World League with injury. The World Cup is the first Olympic qualifying tournament, where the three top teams will book their tickets to Athens next year, and Brazil are one of the favourites having won the 2002 World Championship and the 2003 World League. More
Pic: Bernardinho will welcome back half his squad from Italy in November

World Cup Countdown
Babo-chan a Volleyball veteran & eternal charmer
October 25, 2003 - When in November the 2003 World Cup teams run onto the courts in cities all over Japan, a very special mascot will be there to cheer them. Babo-chan, also interpreted when translated from Japanese into English as “Vabo-chan”, will lead the cheers and animate the crowd as tirelessly as he has done at each of these events for more than three decades. More 

       The different eras of Babo-chan

              
1997-1981       1985-1991         1995                                                     
     
            1999                                               1999

Golden era of Japan
October 8, 2003 - Japanese Volleyball has a rich tradition in the sport and once again they will be the hosts for the 2003 World Cup when the men's and Women's editions start in November. Hiroshi Takeuchi of Kyodo News takes a look at Japan's wonderful past. Japan enjoyed their golden era in the 1960's and 1970's. The head coach of the women's national team in the 60's was Hirofumi Daimatsu, who was a charismatic character with his army-style discipline and hard training. They shocked the then European-dominated women's field, when they advanced to the final of the 1960 World Championship in Brazil to collect the silver medal. It was their first attempt at the World Championship, since Japan had enjoyed the traditional nine-man Volleyball game and was rather reluctant to develop the six-man version.
More Men's History Pic: The Japanese Men's team on their way to the gold medal in Munich 1972
 
Drawing of lots completed; World Cup match schedule announced
October 03, 2003 - Korea and USA launch the FIVB Women's World Cup tournament on November 1 when they clash in Tokyo at 12:00 (local time) to kick off the quest for a fast track entry into the Olympic Games in Athens, 2004. The full match schedules for the 2003 Women's and Men's World Cups were confirmed on Friday following the drawing of lots in Tokyo. The 12 teams in the men's and women's tournaments play a round robin format in two groups in which all teams meet each other. More Women's World Cup schedule Men's World Cup schedule
Pic: USA and Korea open the Women's World Cup on November 1
 
Wild Cards announced for first Olympic qualifier
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 1, 2003 - The International Volleyball Federation on Wednesday announced the allocation of two wild cards for each of the Men's and Women's World Cup tournament to take place in Japan in November. The top three teams qualify directly for the Athens 2004 Olympic tournament. More French Spanish German Pic: Serbia and Montenegro takes on Italy during the 2003 World League

NORCECA Championship
Mexico & Cuba join Canada & USA in semifinals
Culiacan, Mexico, September 28, 2003 - Mexico and Cuba both confirmed their spots in the semifinals of the XVIII Men's NORCECA Championship on Sunday after recording wins over Puerto Rico and Panama respectively in their final group matches. More Spanish Story by Lissette Ricardo More NORCECA Championship news


Asia Challenge Cup
Korea Wins Asian Challenge Cup
QIQIHAR, China, September 17, 2003 - Korea rallied to beat China 3-1 (16-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-23) to win the first leg of the 2003 Challenge Cup Asia Men's Volleyball Tournament in Qiqihar, a northeastern city of China on Wednesday. More More AVC Challenge Cup news

European Championships
Italy European Champions
Berlin, Germany, Sept. 14, 2003  - Italy emerged victorious 3-2 (25:18, 40:42, 25:28, 27:29, 15:9) in a five set thriller against France to take the Men's European title in a match that lasted almost two and a half hours and saw the lead change from one team to another and had the capacity crowd in the Max-Schmelling Halle on their feet for much of the match. More German
Pic: The victorious Italian squad More European Championship news
 
Asian Championship
South Korea retain title
Tianjin, China, September 12, 2003 - South Korea fought back from 2-1 down to beat China 3-2 and retain their title as Asian Men's Volleyball Championships here on Friday. More Final results and standings More AVC Championship news

South American Continental Championship
Venezuela secures spot in World Cup in Men's South American Continental Championship
Rio de Janiero, Brazil, September 5, 2003 - Venezuela booked themselves a ticket to the 2003 World Cup after recording their third win at the South American Men's Continental Championship beating Paraguay 3-0 (25-05, 25-18, 25-14) in 1h04 on Friday in the Miécimo Da Silva gymnasium, in Campo Grande. More More SouthAm Championship news

African Nations Championship
Tunisia claims eighth title
August 06, 2003 - Tunisia booked their ticket to the 2003 World Cup in Japan next November after beating hosts Egypt in the final of the African Nations Championship 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 27-25) on Wednesday in Cairo to continue its domination of the event having won eight of the 14 competitions. More Story by Tarek AL-ADWAR, CAVB Press Officer
Pic: Tunisia raise aloft the African Nations trophy More AfricaVolley Championship news