No 128 October 2004 English edition FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE VOLLEYBALL 2005 FIVB World Grand Prix qualification Twelve teams confirmed for the women’s most prestigious annual tournament The Netherlands, hosts Italy and Asian hosts Japan, Korea, Thailand and China received automatic World Grand Prix Poland and entry. 12 Qualified teams Germany claimed In Turkey, Germany needed only to win one set in their final match against Poland Qualified through European Qualification the final three to qualify and despite missing star play- – Netherlands tickets to the ers captain Angelina Grun and outside Poland attacker Birgit Thumm through illness Germany 2005 FIVB World Grand Prix they did enough to win the first set before Italy (host organiser) after finishing first, second Poland claimed the next three (25-18, 20- and third respectively at 25, 15-25, 23-25). Qualified through The Polish victory was also enough for III Women’s Pan-American Cup 2004 the European Qualification the current European champions to qual- – Cuba (host organiser) Tournament in Ankara, ify ahead of Turkey on set ratio differ- USA Turkey in September. ence. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, who Dominican Republic had guaranteed their spot on the penul- Brazil timate day, finished the tournament in style by defeating Bulgaria in straight The 4 best Asian teams of the The tournament represented the final sets (25-23, 25-13, 25-20). FIVB World Ranking qualification competition for next year’s Despite Turkey defeating Romania 3-0 – China World Grand Prix with Cuba, USA, the (25-16, 25-18, 25-18) in the last match Dominican Republic and Brazil quali- of the event it wasn’t enough for the Japan (host organiser of the final round) fying in a Norceca & South America home side to finish among the best three Korea qualifying event in June while traditional teams. Thailand VOLLEYBALL 2005 FIVB World League: successful 12-team formula reintroduced for the 2005 edition Twelve of the best inter- Champions Brazil head what promises national men’s Volleyball to be a riveting competition for suprem- teams have been con- acy with three pools of four teams in a firmed and fulfil the con- home and away round robin tourna- ditions to participate in ment. They will be joined in Pool A by the 2005 World League, Venezuela, Japan and Portugal. In Pool the FIVB’s major men’s Volleyball annual B, 2004 Olympic Games and 2004 World competition. League runners-up Italy will be joined by With USD 13 million in prize money the Cuba, Bulgaria and France. Pool C will World League is the richest and most be led by Serbia & Montenegro, together significant FIVB tournament with the with Greece, Argentina, 5th place in the world’s elite teams doing battle in a com- 2004 Olympic Games, and Poland. petition that draws thousands of specta- Argentina and Venezuela, the two return- tors at events and millions more through ing teams after one year’s absence, will television coverage. give their utmost in order to prove that This year’s teams – Argentina, Brazil, they deserve a place among the crème de Venezuela, Cuba, Japan, Portugal, Italy, la crème of world class Volleyball. Bulgaria, France, Serbia & Montenegro, The FIVB President, Dr. Rubén Acosta Greece, and Poland – will begin the Inter- was delighted with the financial partner- continental round on May 27, 2005 and ships and television contracts concluded for the next six weeks will continue their for this elite tournament: “With a greater pursuit for a place in the coveted finals coverage, the support of increasing num- in Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro on bers of fans will bring the best out of the July 8-10, with the final four teams play- world’s top men’s teams. The superb ing in a 3-day tournament. display of skills and the fierce competi- Brazil’s star Giba spikes past Olympic, World Champions, World Cup tion will lead the World League to new Luigi Mastrangelo (ITA) Holders and defending World League heights”, he said. Find out more at www.fivb.org VOLLEYBALL VOLLEYBALL Women’s World Ranking 2005 World Grand Prix China and Brazil top new Volleyball World Rankings Preparations moving ahead Following their stunning Olympic gold Former world number one USA, who medal the Chinese women’s team moved had a disappointing Olympics campaign With Japan’s confirmation to host the up three places to be the new number after losing to Brazil in the quarterfi- Finals for next year’s annual top wom- one team in the world after the release nals, dropped to third place, while Brazil en’s competition, the excitement arises of the latest FIVB world rankings in Sep- remained as world number two despite as the 2005 edition takes shape. The Pre- tember. finishing fourth after losing the bronze liminary Round will be disputed from China, who were ranked number three medal match to Cuba. June 24 to July 10 with the 12 teams play- in the world at the time of the Olympics The only other changes in the women’s ing for the next three weeks in three dif- in Greece, pulled off a superb comeback top 10 saw Poland and Korea exchange ferent countries in a round robin tourna- from two sets down in the final to beat places between eight and ninth spots. ment in a total of nine countries. Sydney 2000 silver medalists Russia 3-2 Meanwhile, Brazil’s victory over Italy 3-1 (28-30, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12). (25-15, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22) in the men’s The best five qualified teams plus the competition final consolidated their spot host Japan will fight for their place at the as the world number one men’s team. top of the podium during the Finals from In fact, with Brazil, Italy and Russia July 13 through 18. claiming the medals, the top three men’s rankings did not change, with Brazil 2004 WGP Final Ranking being followed by Italy and Serbia and Montenegro respectively. Rk. Country The big movers saw former world 1 BRAZIL, WGP Gold Medal number four France drop two spots with Chinese women celebrate 2 ITALY, WGP Silver Medal USA and Russia moving up one from fifth and sixth respectively. 3 USA, WGP Bronze Medal VOLLEYBALL 4 CUBA 5 CHINA World Grand Prix 6 GERMANY The World Grand Prix Council will meet in Bangkok 7 RUSSIA 8 POLAND 9 JAPAN The World Grand Prix Council will meet Since its inception in 1993, the World 10 THAILAND in Bangkok, Thailand on November 11 Grand Prix has been traditionally held 11 KOREA where the annual meeting will verify the in Asia but due to the SARS virus in 12 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC dates, venues and organisers for the 2005 2003 Italy hosted the tournament while edition of the premier women’s interna- Asia and Europe hosted the Preliminary tional Volleyball event. Round and Italy the Final Round in 2004. Next page Men & Women 1st, 2nd, VOLLEYBALL 3rd & playoff 2006 2005 Sports Events calendar World Championships World and Continental Championships tournaments calendar Confederation / tournament Gender Date City Country FIVB 2006 World Championship M/W Sept. 2004 - Aug. 31 Various Cities Various Countries Qualification Tournaments World League M May 27 - July 3 Various Cities Various Countries World League Finals M July 8 - 10 OPEN OPEN World Grand Prix Preliminary Rounds W July 15 - 31 Various Cities Various countries World Grand Prix Finals W Aug. 3 - 7 OPEN ITALY Men’s Under 21 World Championship M Aug. 6-14 Visakahapatnam INDIA Women’s Under 20 World Championship W July 23-31 Ankara & Istanbul TURKEY Boys’ Under 19 World Championship M Aug. 24 - Sept. 1 Algiers & Blida ALGERIA Girls’ Under 18 World Championship W July - Aug. OPEN OPEN World Grand Champions Cup W Nov. 15-20 Tokyo & Nagoya JAPAN World Grand Champions Cup M Nov. 22-27 Nagano & Tokyo JAPAN CEV /European Volleyball confederation Senior European Championships: Final Round M Sept. 2-11 Rome /Beograd ITALY & YUGOSLAVIA Senior European Championships: Final Round W Sept. 16-25 Zagreb /Karlovac CROATIA NORCECA / North & Central American Volleyball confederation NORCECA´S Continental Championship W Sept. 2-10 OPEN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO NORCECA´S Continental Championship M Sept. 1-9 Winnipeg CANADA SAM / South American Volleyball confederation XXVI South American Senior Championship M Sept. OPEN OPEN XXVI South American Senior Championship W Sept. OPEN BOLIVIA 2 FIVB X-Press No 128 October 2004 Volleyball Round Conf. & Pool Date City, Country Participants WOMEN’S 1ST, 2ND, 3RD & PLAYOFF ROUNDS TOURNAMENTS. Vacancies: Africa 3, Asia 4 (+ Japan, organiser), Europe 7 (+Italy, 2002 World Champ.), NORCECA 6, South America 2 AFR-A Mar. 15-20 Cairo, EGYPT Egypt, Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa AFR-B June 8-12 Nairobi, KENYA Kenya, Algeria, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Congo, Eritrea AFR-C Apr. (tbd) MAURITIUS Mauritius, Tunisia, Cameroon, Uganda 1 ASI-A Aug. 3-7 Ningbo, CHINA China, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Jordan ASI-B Aug. 17-21 Nakhon Raicha SinaTHAILAND Thailand, Korea, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Tonga 1 EUR-A Jan. 12-16 Sheffield, ENGLAND England, Scotland, Serbia & Montenegro, Albania, Spain EUR-B pending PORTUGAL Portugal, Austria, Slovak Republic, Belarus, Slovenia EUR-C Apr. 27 Apr - May 1 Saint-Dié, France France, Finland, Norway, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belgium 2 EUR-D May 27-29 Baku, AZERBAIJAN Azerbaijan, Romania, 1st A, 2nd C EUR-E pending pending Greece, Ukraine, 1st C, 2nd B EUR-F June 11-13 CROATIA Croatia, Czech Republic, 1st B, 2nd A 3 EUR-G Jul. 1-3 Moscow, RUSSIA Russia, Bulgaria, 1st D, 2nd F EUR-H Aug. 5-7 Ankara, TURKEY Turkey, Netherlands, 1st E, 2nd D EUR-I June 17-19 Dresden, GERMANY Germany, Poland, 1st F, 2nd E Playoff 3rd EUR-G, 3rd EUR-H, 3rd EUR-I 1 NOR-A Apr.