FIVB Grand Prix 2010 - host nations in the third round
The FIVB Grand Prix 2010 completed three preliminary phases and entered the fourth final round this week. Taking a glance at previous games, the third-round brought out slight changes in the team standings. The top and bottom teams tightly held their spots while the other teams experienced variations. Third week games were hosted by three new cities which provided the host nations an edge over the outstation teams in the tournament. Somehow, the hosts seemed less-effective and failed to excite local fans.
Hong Kong, China
China entered the third-round of the FIVB Grand Prix along with United States, Germany, and Thailand under the tag of Group G. The Chinese city Hong Kong attracted huge number of volleyball fans and arenas were packed with local and international followers. China played their first match of third round with neighbour Thailand and managed to dismiss them in four sets. The first set was overpowered by guest Thailand while China regained control in the final three rounds and posted a 3-1 victory.
It was a good start for the China, which was showered with applause from the supporters for good performance. In the second competition, Chinese team repeated the same brilliant act against Germany. They achieved a three straight set victory over Germany. The host team clinched an easy victory in first two sets but Germany offered them a hard time in final round, which ended with a difference of just two points (28-26).
So far so good!
The tough competitor United States was next in line to strike with China. The U.S. team had also won both of their third-round matches and saw China in the eyes. Chinese women failed to find solid ground under their feet in first two sets but they managed to win the third set. Anyhow, the Americans returned the score in fourth-set and claimed 3-1 victory over the host team.
China finished the 3rd round with 19 points while the U.S. climbed high in the ranking with 21 points.
Taipei, Taiwan
The city of Taipei, Taiwan hosted Group H teams which included Brazil, Poland, Puerto Rico and native Chinese Taipei. The first two rounds of the game couldn’t bring any good news for Chinese Taipei as it lost all the matches. Nonetheless, C.T. played third-week matches on home-ground and broke their streak of continuous defeats. They lost the first two matches but pleased the home-crowd with a 3-2 victory over Puerto Rico in the final match of third round. Chinese Taipei still has the lowest ranking but they should be happy about their very first victory in the championship.
Tokyo, Japan
One of the top three teams of second round, Japan had the most embarrassing results in third round. The teams from Italy, Netherlands, and Dominican Republic gathered in Tokyo in third week of the FIVB Grand Prix 2010. Despite of the home-crowd and local support, Japan could earn only one match victory. Japan clashed with team from Dominican Republic in their opening match of the third round. Dominicans received a 1-3 defeat from Japan.
The host Japan played it next two matches with Italy and Netherlands respectively. Unfortunately Japan lost both of the matches. In the first game with Italy, it accepted 1-3 defeat while Netherlands’ team posted 3-2 victory over them. It was the longest game for Japan in the third week, which they ultimately lost to Netherlands. After the loss of two games in third-phase of the game, Japan was placed at fourth position with a total of 19 points.
Logically it is always good to play matches on the favourable home-courts but at the same time, host nations are required to perform well in front of the local fans in order to make fans proud of their teams.
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