FIVB Women’s World Championship 2010: Inside scoop of first-day in Pool A
The 16th FIVB Women’s World Championship is underway in Japan since last week. The event welcomed 24 teams from around the world. The teams were divided in 6 pools. Japan, Serbia, Poland, Peru, Costa Rica and Algeria took their spots in Pool A.
The first round of the championship was kicked off on October 29 and it covered its length in three days. Three matches were played on the opening day of the tournament in each Pool.
Pool A fixtures
Peru vs. Algeria Serbia vs. Costa Rica Poland vs. Japan
At the end of first-day, Peru, Serbia, and hosts Japan appeared on the scene as winners in Pool A. The totally sold-out Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo hosted the first pool-play combats on Friday, 29th October, 2010.
Peru vs. Algeria 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, and 25-18)
The two teams descended the court with great plans. Peruvian ladies exhibited a spectacular show and outplayed Algeria in three straight sets. Peru’s team was headed by Korean Cheol Yong Kim, while Ikhedji Mouloud was attached with Algerian team as head
coach. Cheol Yong’s strategy worked and his team captured success.
The first set of the match was highlighted by strong serves of Peruvian Elena Keldibekova. She took long runs and rolled the ball towards pin-pointed area. Peru’s team was successful to build a strong lead of 5-1 in the early phase of the game. Algerian
players struggled to chase the score but their efforts went futile. Peruvian hitters extended the lead to 7-3. Algeria couldn’t put up with the heavy strike of Patricia Soto and Peru moved to 11-4 at the first technical timeout. The latter half of the first
set didn’t see much change on Algeria’s part and they lost the first set to Peru with a margin of 9 points.
Algeria suffered more damage in the following set and lost the set by receiving 25-12. Peru continued with success and didn’t allow Algerian squad to feel ground under their feet. Peruvian ladies claimed the third set and declared match victory in the first
match of the tournament.
Serbia vs. Costa Rica 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, and 25-14)
The second match of day featured teams from Serbia and Costa Rica. The Serbian team easily managed to thrash a straight sets victory over Costa Rica. Around 2,450 people made their presence felt in the sports hall by cheering at the teams. Serbia had a strong
middle blocker Natasa Krsmanovic in the team who restricted Costa Rica to score points. The captain girl of Costa Rica, Verania Willis showed great effort to overcome the power of Serbs but success stayed away from them anyway.
Serbia scored the early points of the game and pushed their opponents behind. The offensive combination of Serbia created trouble for the Costa Rican defence. First set of the match ended in Serbia’s favour at 25-15. Serbs remained on the winning course
and secured the second set as well. Costa Rica failed to stand the shooting balls from Serbia’s hitters and gave way to Serbian victory after losing third set at 25-14.
Poland vs. Japan 2-3 (28-26, 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, and 12-15)
The much awaited match of the day brought Poland and hosts Japan together for a heated competition. The great 5-set combat was staged in front of 9’000 spectators. It was a bruising encounter, which started with Poland’s dominance. The polish team demonstrated
a stellar performance and secured opening two sets of the game. Somehow, Japan made a strong come-back and managed to teach a lesson to Poland in following sets. Japan was up with a courageous performance and created an opportunity for local fans to celebrate
victory. Poland had strong spot in the first two sets but game slipped out of their hands in the following three sets.
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