Italy Tops USA to Win
Women's Volleyball World Cup
ATP
November 15, 2007
NAGOYA, Japan (AFP) - European champions Italy scratched out a tough win against the United States
on Friday to win the women's World Cup volleyball tournament for the first
time.
Their 25-20,
25-18, 27-25 victory was the squad's 11th straight win in the 12-team
round-robin competition, where the top three finishers -- Italy, the United
States and Brazil -- have qualified for the next year's Olympics.
The Americans
ended with a 9-2 win-loss record for third behind Brazil,
which silenced a loud partisan crowd in its defeat of Japan 2-16,
23-25, 25-18, 25-18.
Brazil ended with the same
record as the Americans but took the silver medal thanks to a better points ratio.
"We made
history," said Italy's
captain Eleonora Lo Bianco. "It was not easy, but we were able to play
tenaciously till the end. Although we've already earned a ticket for Beijing yesterday, we
wanted to finish with a win."
Italy's coach Massimo Barbolini attributed the victory -- capping an undefeated
tournament for the team -- to their hard work "with a little bit of
fortune."
"For us, it
was important to win the last match, because it's a great result to win 11
matches in a row. My players have (had) a wonderful season, they wanted to
finish this way.
US coach, Lang Ping, said
her team did not have enough time to train together for the two-week
tournament.
"They (Italy) have a
great team. I think we played well, but at critical moments we made too many
errors. We have so much homework to do. Hopefully, we can have more time to
train together," said Lang.
"In the
Olympics, there will be more teams, stronger teams, including Italy. I really
hope to have enough time to train. We have a lot to do to become a great
team," said Lang.
Four-time
champions Cuba downed world bronze medallists Serbia
in a tight game 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22, and the Dominican Republic came
from two sets behind to beat Peru in a nail biting match 23-25, 21-25, 25-17,
25-10, 15-13.
Former European
champions Poland outclassed
Asian bronze medallists Thailand
25-15, 25-17, 25-22, while South Korea
outgunned champions Kenya
25-16, 25-17, 25-12.
Cuba ended with a 8-3 record
at fourth, Serbia 7-4 at
fifth, Poland 6-5 at sixth, Japan 6-5 at seventh, South
Korea 4-7 at eighth, the Dominican
Republic 3-8 at ninth, Thailand
2-9 at 10th, Peru 1-10 at
11th ahead of winless Kenya.