Volleyball special report: Top teams in 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championship, Italy (Part 1)
The 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championship had an amazing run in the first preliminary round. The volleyball top-guns from all around the world got together for the great action and demonstrated thrilling performances. The campaign officially started on Saturday,
25th September, 2010 and will conclude the final results on October 10, 2010. In the meantime, the championship has covered the first leg and it has set a new dimension for teams. The squad of 24 teams was divided into 6 Pools, while each pool comprised
of 4 teams.
At the end of first round, 6 teams climbed up the stairs of fame and settled for top spots. The top-class includes:
Italy Cuba Russia United States France Poland
They won all their matches and attained 6 points each. On the other hand, the failing teams were eliminated from the championship. Japan, Canada, Australia, China, Venezuela, and Tunisia failed to survive due to bad performance and got return-tickets to
home.
Detailed overview – Italy is up for title
Since Italy is the host of this fabulous event, the local fans expected too much from the home-team. Italy represented Pool A along with Japan, Iran and Egypt. The native boys cooked up some great techniques to rule the game. The Italians made their mark
and clean-swept the first round. They opened the championship with first match against Japan on 25th September, 2010. They achieved success in three straight sets. Japan resisted in the first set and tried to hinder Italy’s progress but failed to
overcome the strong team. Italy won the first set and smoothly made its way to match-victory by winning final two sets. Italy posted a score of 25-20, 25-16, and 25-14 against Japan.
On the next day, Egypt stepped forward to challenge Italy. Egypt appeared as a tough competitor but Italy had perfect plan to dismiss Egyptians. The Pharaohs fell back by receiving 0-3 (20-25, 17-25, and 23-25) defeat from Italy. In the third encounter on
27th September 2010, Italians came across Iran’s team in the court. Iranian team put up good fight and forced the opponents to do it the hard way. The match lasted for five sets. Italy won the first two sets, while Iranians equalled the score by
capturing third and fourth set. The game-score was levelled at 2-2. Somehow, Italy continued with success and pulled off victory by claiming final set. Italy remained successful by sending 3-2 (25-21, 25-10, 21-25, 26-28, and 15-13) on Iran. The hosts Italy
finished the first round without any loss and topped the ‘Pool A’ rankings.
Cuba’s hard-knock
The Caribbean country Cuba also grabbed a whole lot of attention for an incredible play in first round. Cuba was placed with Spain, Tunisia, and Brazil in Pool B. Cuban pushed the opponents behind and secured the top spot. Following the same pattern Cuba
started the campaign on 25th September, 2010 and clashed with Spain in the first match. Cuba overpowered the Spaniards and scored a 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 20-25, and 15-13) victory. The success in first game put them in rhythm, and they never
stopped afterwards.
Cuba defeated Tunisia in the next match on 26th September. They easily managed to clinch 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, and 25-15) win over Tunes. Brazil was next in line to face Cuba in third contest on 27th September. Brazil was a better team,
and it created trouble for the Cuban team. It was a long-tiring match which covered five sets. Cuba claimed the first set after a close fight of 34-32 but Brazil was quick to shudder off the influence and levelled the score by winning second set (25-18). Third
set was also a bruising battle, which ended with Brazilian triumph at 25-23.
Therefore, Cuba combined body, mind and soul to subdue the challenger. Cuba scored well in the following two sets and snatched 3-2 (34-32, 18-25, 23-25, 25-21, and 15-12) victory from Brazil. Cuba collected 6 points by winning three matches and stayed on
the top in Pool B rankings.
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