Pool leaders after third week: 2011 FIVB World League – Volleyball news (Part 1)
The wonderful action at the FIVB World League was kicked off in the last week of May as a total of sixteen of the best men’s volleyball teams entered the competition with lots of hopes and plans. The participants were split into four pools, where each pool
was comprised of four teams. The tournament started off with the preliminary round and covered the third successful week this past Sunday, June 12. At the end the third week, the following four powerhouses of the volleyball world climbed up to the top slots
in their respective pool:
Pool A – Brazil – 15 points Pool B – Russia – 18 points Pool C – Argentina – 14 points Pool D – Italy – 16 points
Brazil
In Pool ‘A’ of the 2011 FIVB World League, defending champion Brazil was grouped with teams from United States, Puerto Rico, and Poland. The Brazilian hotshots began the campaign with impressive play. They crossed paths with Puerto Rico in the first week.
The Puerto Rican team had qualified for the FIVB World League for the first time. Hence, it had lot of hopes attached to its’ matches. Brazilian team travelled to the Puerto Rican city San Juan and played two matches with the home team. The hosts couldn’t
overcome the power of defending champions and lost both matches. Brazil finished the first week with an overwhelming margin of six points.
The smart and super-cool Brazilian players maintained their resolve and positive attitude in the second week. They clashed with the hosts of the Final Round of the championship, Poland. In the second week, Brazil also had the competitive edge of playing
at home. The beautiful capital city of Rio de Janeiro hosted the matches. Brazil demonstrated a spectacular performance in front of home audience and achieved enormous success. They enjoyed a steady string of admirers for capturing both matches against the
Poles. Another six points were added to Brazil’s score at the end of second week.
Third week of the tournament brought a resilient rival for Brazil in the form of U.S. team. The American team was playing away from home and dropped first match to Brazil. However, despite the massive support of fans Brazil lost second match. American hotshots
swept their feet off and claimed an amazing victory over hosts. The winning streak of Brazil came to an end but still they topped the ranking with better points.
Russia
The runner-up team of last year’s FIVB World League, Russia is playing in the Pool B alongside Bulgaria, Germany and Japan. Russians had under-gone extensive training and preparation for the competition. They entered the competition with a firm attitude
to make it to the top this year. Russia started the campaign at home city Ufa, while Japan faced them in the first week. The Japanese team couldn’t stand a chance of overpowering Russians on their home soil and remained unsuccessful. Russia bagged two consecutive
victories and received huge applause from fans.
Russia stayed at home in the next week, while Germany travelled to the city of Kaliningrad. The charged-up home squad came strong against Germans and heavily influenced them in both matches. The visiting team failed to tackle the hard-hitting of the Russian
spikers and gave in. Russia walked away with absolute success as they beat Germany in straight sets.
Third week of the tournament brought the Bulgarian team into competition with Russia. The silver-medallist crew was too heavy a team like Bulgaria. They hindered the performance of the Bulgarian side and pulled off success in both matches of week three.
It was another brilliant finish by Russia in the third week of the 2011 FIVB World League. With such an impressive spell, Russia has clearly signalled its intent of holding the title trophy this year.
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