Lausanne, July 4, 2008 – The FIVB has confirmed the match Italy-Russia to open the Women’s Olympic tournament on Saturday, August 9th at the Institute of Technology in Beijing with Japan-USA the last match the same day at the Capital Stadium. Serbia-Russia will play the next day the opening match of the Men’s competition at the Institute of Technology and Poland-Germany will play the last match of this day at the Capital Stadium.

The 12 qualified National Teams in each Preliminary Round are divided in Pools A and B, with the following distribution.

Women's Tournament
Pool A: 1. China, 2. Cuba, 3. USA, 4. Japan, 5. Poland, 6. Venezuela
Pool B: 1. Brazil 2. Italy, 3. Russia, 4. Serbia, 5. Kazakhstan, 6. Algeria

Men's Tournament
Pool A: 1. China, 2. USA, 3. Bulgaria, 4. Italy, 5. Japan, 6. Venezuela
Pool B: 1. Brazil, 2. Russia, 3. Poland, 4. Serbia, 5. Egypt, 6. Germany

Quarter-finals
The top four teams in each Preliminary Round pool will advance to the quarter-finals, which will start on Tuesday, August 19 as follows.
A1 vs. B4
B1 vs  A4

A Drawing of lots will determine the opponents of teams A2 and A3 and decide which of these two teams will play against B2 and which one shall meet B3.

Semi-finals
The four winners of the quarter-finals will then advance to the semi-finals under the following format:
Winner A1/B4 vs. Winner (A2/B3 or B2, as resulted after draw)
Winner B1/A4 vs. Winner (A3/B3 or B2, as resulted after draw)

Finals
The two winners of the semi-finals will play the gold-medal match. The two losers of the semi-finals will play the bronze-medal match.

The tournaments are scheduled from Saturday, August 9, to Sunday, August 24, playing Women’s matches one day and alternating Men’s matches the following day.

Men’s and Women’s Olympic Volleyball Tournament match schedule

* All times are local

Saturday: (09/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Italy - Russia
12:00-13:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Serbia - Kazakhstan
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Algeria - Brazil
14:30-16:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool A Poland - Cuba
20:00-21:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Venezuela - China
22:00-23:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Japan - USA

Sunday: (10/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Serbia - Russia
12:00-13:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A  Italy - Japan
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Men's preliminaries - Poll A   USA - Venezuela
14:30-16:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Brazil - Egypt 
20:00-21:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A  Bulgaria - China
22:00-23:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B   Poland - Germany

Monday: (11/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Algeria - Serbia
12:00-13:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Kazakhstan - Italy
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool A USA - Cuba
14:30-16:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Brazil - Russia 
20:00-21:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  China - Poland
22:00-23:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Japan - Venezuela

Tuesday: (12/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B Russia - Germany
12:00-13:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B Egypt - Poland
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool A USA - Italy
14:30-16:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B Serbia - Brazil 
20:00-21:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A Venezuela - China
22:00-23:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A Japan - Bulgaria

Wednesday: (13/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Italy - Algeria
12:00-13:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Venezuela - USA
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Russia - Kazakhstan
14:30-16:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Serbia - Brazil
20:00-21:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Cuba - China
22:00-23:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A   Poland - Japan

Thursday: (14/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A Italy - Venezuela
12:00-13:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Germany - Egypt
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Brazil - Russia
14:30-16:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Poland - Serbia 
20:00-21:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A  China – Japan
22:00-23:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A   Bulgaria - USA

Friday: (15/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Algeria – Russia
12:00-13:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Brazil - Kazakhstan
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool A Venezuela - Poland
14:30-16:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Serbia - Italy 
20:00-21:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A USA - China
22:00-23:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Japan - Cuba

Saturday: (16/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A   USA - China
12:00-13:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Russia - Egypt
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Serbia - Germany
14:30-16:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool A  Italy - Bulgaria
20:00-21:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B Brazil - Poland
22:00-23:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A  Venezuela - Japan

Sunday: (17/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Kazakhstan - Algeria
12:00-13:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Cuba - Venezuela
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool A  Poland - USA
14:30-16:00 Women's preliminaries - Pool B Italy - Brazil 
20:00-21:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool A   China - Japan
22:00-23:30 Women's preliminaries - Pool B  Russia - Serbia

Monday: (18/8)
Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium 
10:00-11:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A Bulgaria - Venezuela
12:00-13:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool B   Germany - Brazil
Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B  Poland - Russia
14:30-16:00 Men's preliminaries - Pool B   Egypt - Serbia 
20:00-21:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A   China - Italy
22:00-23:30 Men's preliminaries - Pool A Japan - USA

Tuesday: (19/8) Capital Indoor Stadium 
10:00-11:30 Women's quarter-final 01  After drawing result
12:00-13:30 Women's quarter-final 02    After drawing result
20:00-21:30 Women's quarter-final 03  After drawing result
22:00-23:30 Women's quarter-final 04  After drawing result

Wednesday: (20/8) Capital Indoor Stadium 
10:00-11:30 Men's quarter-final 01  After drawing result
12:00-13:30 Men's quarter-final 02    After drawing result
20:00-21:30 Men's quarter-final 03  After drawing result
22:00-23:30 Men's quarter-final 04  After drawing result

Thursday: (21/8) Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's semi-final 01  
20:00-21:30 Women's semi-final 02

Friday: (22/8) Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Men's semi-final 01  
20:00-21:30 Men's semi-final 02

Saturday: (23/8) Capital Indoor Stadium 
12:30-14:00 Women's bronze-medal match  
20:00-21:30 Women's gold-medal match 
21:50-22:10 Women's Award ceremony

Sunday: (24/8) Capital Indoor Stadium 
10:00-11:30 Men's bronze-medal match 
12:00-13:30 Men's gold-medal match 
13:50-14:10 Men's Award ceremony