Top 5 teams of 2011 FIVB World Cup at end of third round – Volleyball News
The crucial third round of the 2011 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Cup covered its length on Tuesday, November 29. The Japanese cities of Hamamatsu and Fukuoka served as hosts of the third round matches. Volleyball enthusiasts showed up in mass and enjoyed
the live-action.
The third round of the tournament brought mixed bag of outcomes for various teams. Italy and China exhibited stellar performances. China clinched its first win of the tournament, while Italy displaced defending champion Brazil the from third position and
occupied the spot. Likewise, some of the teams were pumped and some of them were dumped. At the end of the third round, the following teams got hold of the first five positions:
Poland Russia Italy Brazil Cuba
Poland had a tough competition with silver-medalists Russia in the third round as the two teams fought for the top slot. Poland proved to be the better side and settled for the number 1 position. They played three matches and finished off the round with
a 3-0 record. Poles dropped only one set to China in the third round opener. Otherwise, they remained remarkably consistent and sominated over the opponents in the next two matches. Poland accumulated a total of 22 points at the end of the third round and
built a strong base to enter the final round as a favourite team of the tournament.
Russia, which is on the hunt for a gold-medal this year, fell short of a tie of scores with Poland with a narrow margin of one point. The Russians also scored three wins in the third round but they lagged behind on account of slightly low percentage. Russia
had no difficulty in overcoming Serbia in the opening match, which they finished in straight sets. The boys in sky blue and white challenged Russians in the second match of third round. Argentineans resisted to their full potential and gave a real hard time
to Russia. The whole match imitated an action-packed thriller. However, Russia managed to dismantle the power of their resilient rivals in the end as Argentina lost the match, 0-3.
Cuba clashed with Russia in the third match. Cubans put up a valiant effort and struggled to match their performance with the Russians. Nevertheless, they could only capture one set and lost the match, 1-3. Russia bagged 21 points and secured second slot
in team standings.
Joining the top 3 was team Italy. The Italians turned many heads with a display of great performances in the third round. In the first two rounds, Italy could not touch the high notes and stayed behind Russia, Brazil, and Poland. But the third round created
a great opportunity for them to outdo Brazil and to emerge as the third best team of the tournament. As a result of Italy’s better performance, Brazil had to step down to fourth position.
Cuba is staying at number 5. Only three teams will get tickets to 2012 London Olympics. There is surely going to be a great volleyball scrimmage among these five teams in the final round of the tournament, which is supposed to start in a couple of days.
Check back for the latest results.
Tags: