FIVB World Grand Prix Women’s Tournament 2010 - Victorious teams round 1
The 18th FIVB Grand Prix Women’s Volleyball tournament started off on 6th August and showcased some terrific performances. The 12 teams from three different continents were divided into 9 pools, and each pool comprised of four teams. 1st preliminary round featured the Pool Play matches on Friday and Saturday. Brazil, China, and Poland had the privilege to host first round matches of the championship, which spanned over two days from 6th August to 8th August.
The city of Sao Carlos in Brazil hosted the teams from Taiwan, Brazil, Japan, and Italy. Likewise China entertained the teams from Netherlands, Puerto Rico, China, and Thailand. The teams from Poland, Germany, Dominican Republics, and United States played the first preliminary round in the city of Gdynia, Poland.
At the end of first round matches in the starting week, Brazil, China, Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and Germany pulled off victories and qualified for the next round.
Pool A- Sao Carlos, Brazil
In Pool A, the most interesting encounters occurred. Both the finalist teams of last Grand Prix Championship came face to face once again. Last year’s runner-up team, Japan was all ready for the match in the 1st preliminary round. The host Brazil took an advantage of their home-city and supporting crowd. The Japanese team totally collapsed in front of powerful Brazilian studs. They put a lot of effort but ultimately lost the game in three straight sets. Brazil extended the points to 25-20, 25-19, and 25-20, in order to declare win over Japanese team.
Brazilian Sheila and Jaqueline devastated the Japanese lines by scoring maximum points in the game. The Brazilian captain Fabiana Claudino expressed delight about the success in the early stage, and passed positive remarks about the progress of her team, “We played really well, with patience and remained focused. We served and blocked very well and had consciousness in the counter attacks. It is always tough playing against Japan.”
In addition, Italy had a dramatic performance, as they lost the match to Japan on Friday and made a come-back with a win over Chinese Taipei. Italy was initially shaken after receiving a defeat in their first match with Japan, where they crumpled in a bad way. The team from Chinese Taipei actually had the younger players, which provided an opportunity to Italy for an easy win.
Pool B- Gdynia, Poland
Poland’s team descended the court and impressed everyone with their brilliant play. The opposite team, Dominican Republicans couldn’t penetrate the cruising shots of Polish players. Poland confirmed their status as the winning team by posting 25-23, 25-16, and 25-14. Anna Baranska and Agnieszka Bednarek-Kasza played the key role for Polish triumph by showering un-stoppable spikes, adding to Poland’s score.
Germans ruined the strong set-up of American team. Germany opened the game with good points and maintained the lead afterwards. The upright blocking of Germans helped them win the game. The American fought back but couldn’t succeed to dominate the game. Germany poled 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23) victory over USA.
Pool C- Chengdu, China
In Pool C matches, Netherlands marked their presence and claimed victory over the team from Puerto Rico. The Dutch players ousted their opponents in three straight sets, who failed to gain any confidence in the game. Puerto Rico lost the game as a result of 25-9, 25-12, and 25-21on the points’ clock.
In the other matches, China made impressive moves and totally influenced the team from Thailand. They achieved 3-0 victory by posting 25-16, 25-16, and 25-22. Back in the day, Thailand actually upset Chinese team in 15th Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship but they crashed down in the hands of Chinese team, this season.
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