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| November 24, 2003 | Monday | Ramazan 28, 1424 |
World champions Brazil advance
OKAYAMA (Japan), Nov 23: World champions Brazil and Sydney Olympic champions Serbia and Montenegro fended off Asian challenges for their sixth straight wins in the World Cup men’s volleyball tournament on Sunday.
The Brazilian spikers faced a spirited challenge from China and lost one set, but prevailed the match for a 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18 victory to remain unbeaten in the 12-team round robin.
The Serbians won a close battle in each set to beat Asian champions South Korea 27-25, 25-20, 26-24 in Fukuoka, moving a step closer towards winning one of the three tickets for the Athens Olympic Games.
Serbia and Montenegro’s Vladimir Grbic, who had been sidelined due to a kidney stone problem, came back to the court and fired home eight points out of 20 attempts off his attacks.
Korean captain Choi Tae-Woong said his side did not expect Grbic to play.
In other matches, three-time former world champions Italy outgunned Canada 25-22, 25-19, 25-20, while the United States brushed aside Tunisia 25-13, 25-17, 25-22.
Both Italy and the United States stood with five wins against one defeat to trail top two teams.
Collated results:
Top three teams will qualify for the Athens Olympic Games next year:
In Okayama
Italy bt Canada 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-20)
Brazil bt China 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18)
France bt Egypt 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-15)
In Fukuoka
USA bt Tunisia 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-22)
Serbia Montenegro bt South Korea 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 26-24)
Venezuela bt Japan 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-23).—AFP
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