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| November 26, 2001 | Monday | Ramazan 10, 1422 |
Cuba captures first major title in 12 years
TOKYO, Nov 25: Cuba captured their first major title in 12 years when they outgunned Argentina for a perfect unbeaten record to win the World Grand Champions Cup men’s volleyball tournament Sunday.
The Caribbean champions, having beaten Sydney Olympics champions Yugoslavia and Barcelona Olympics gold medallists Brazil, chalked up a 25-18, 25-17, 26-24 victory for a 5-0 win-loss record in the six-team round robin.
Defending champions Brazil finished second with 4-1, beating hosts Japan 25-21, 25-19, 25-19 ahead of European champions Yugoslavia at third to wind up the two-million-dollar tournament.
Yugoslavia brushed aside Asian champions South Korea 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 for a 3-2 record earlier in the day.
South Korea were fourth with a 2-3 result, followed by Japan with 1-4 and winless Argentina, the hosts of the world championships next year.
Winless Argentina, wild card entrants here, were almost no contest against the powerful, high-jumping Cuban spikers in the 65-minute match.
Leonel Marshall again emerged as the best scorer of the match, winning 18 points, 15 of them from his devastating attacks, while Angel Dennis also fired 14 winners off his attacks.
It was their first big title since they won the 1989 World Cup, earning themselves the top prize of 400,000 dollars.
Since the 1989 victory, the best finishes of the Cuban spikers were as runners-up places in the 1990 world championships and the 1991 and 1999 World Cups.
Cuba were the bronze medallists twice in the inaugural 1993 Grand Champions Cup and the 1997 one.
Sunday’s results:
Cuba bt Argentina 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 26-24); Yugoslavia bt South Korea 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-16); Brazil bt Japan 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-19)
Final standings (played, won, lost, sets for, sets against, points)
Cuba 5 5 0 15 3 10
Brazil 5 4 1 14 4 9
Yugoslavia 5 3 2 9 7 8
South Korea 5 2 3 7 10 7
Japan 5 1 4 4 14 6
Argentina 5 0 5 4 15 5
—AFP
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