No 121 December 2003 English edition FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE VOLLEYBALL 2003 shrouded in green, yellow and red! With the 2003 season drawing to a close, one has to stand, look back and marvel at a wonderful year of Volleyball and Beach Volleyball and reflect on all the astonishing feats accomplished in both sports. And it is no surprise to see the distinct colours of yellow, green and red quickly flooding the picture in what has been a fantastic year for the Brazilian men’s and Chinese women’s teams. The recently completed World Cups saw One month later China pulled off the sen- ings ahead of countrymen Benjamin Ins- both teams dominate, charging through sation of the 2003 World Grand Prix finals fran and Marcio Araujo and Paul and their respective tournaments unbeaten in when they deprived title defenders and Martin Laciga from Switzerland. Simi- superb displays of quality Volleyball. The outright favorites Russia the prize with a larly, on the women’s circuit, another two teams, now ranked number one in display of stunning and stylish Volleyball new Brazilian combination featuring the world in the FIVB rankings, dis- that mixed skill and deception with Olympic and two-time world champion played inspirational Volleyball in a cru- strength to give them a well deserved 3-0 Sandra Pires Tavares and Ana Paula Con- cial event offering Olympic qualification. (25-22, 28-26, 25-21) victory in "the nelly collected an amazing four gold and The men’s tournament saw Italy and Ser- decider". four silver medals to finish ahead of last bia and Montenegro join Brazil in quali- year’s ranking winners Misty May and fying for Athens while China will go to While the World Cup and World League Kerri Walsh from USA and compatriots Greece with the Brazilian and the US triumphs added to Brazil’s impressive Adriana Behar and Shelda Bruno Bede. women’s team. trophy collection, it certainly bodes well for their future when their Boy’s U19 and All in all, 2003 has been a fantastic year The inaugural World Cup triumph for Women’s U20 teams both became World for both Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, Brazil and the third for China capped Champions, while their Men’s U21 and this edition of the Xpress takes a look stellar years for them both. Earlier in the claimed the silver medal after being back at the results of some of the compe- year they were equally dominant in their upset in the final by Poland and their titions. Continental Championships and the Girls U18 side collected bronze. China World League and World Grand Prix have been equally impressive in the competitions respectively, where they women’s under age group, remaining only lost two games each all tournament. unbeaten in collecting the U18 title and losing to Brazil in the five-set final of the Brazil brought the carnival to Madrid in Women’s U20 Championship. Spain when they met Serbia and Mon- tenegro to fight for the coveted title of the While China’s control of the women’s World League in July but the result went Beach Volleyball circuit is still developing down to the wire - and the tiebreaker - in through the young pair of Tian Jia and what turned out to be a superb display of Wang Fei, Brazil have been pioneers in the modern game that really finished the sport in both genders. Brazil celebrate their first with two superb winners. Brazil took the World Cup victory title 3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 31-29) Ricardo Alex Costa Santos and Emanuel in just seven minutes shy of two hours, it Rego had only played two tournaments was, however, a match that will stand together in 2002 (collecting bronze on www.fivb.org/ alone in the history of World League each occasion) before the Brazilian pair finals as a truly great contest between the claimed five gold - including the World For more news and updates visit sport’s poets Brazil and its warriors Ser- Championship - and a bronze in 2003 to our website at: www.fivb.org bia and Montenegro. top the Swatch-FIVB World Tour rank- Find out more at www.fivb.org VOLLEYBALL VOLLEYBALL INAUGURAL WORLD CUP EXCLUSIVE MATERIALS & EQUIPMENT WIN FOR BRAZIL FOR 2001-2004 World champions Brazil finished an VOLLEYBALLS SHOES AND UNIFORMS excellent 2003 by claiming their first World Cup title in November and fin- MIKASA OLYMPIKUS ished the tournament in grand style MVP200 (color) shoes & uniforms Exclusivity for : recording their 11th successive victory, Exclusive Game Ball for: Instructors, International Referees, beating hosts Japan 25-17, 25-20, 25-16 all FIVB Competitions incl. OG Line Judges & Scorers on the final day in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Sta- 2004-2008 all FIVB Competitions incl. OG 2004 dium. Seminars & Courses MIKASA MVL200 color ADIDAS With the South Americans already con- VL200 (MGV5) (white) shoes & uniforms firmed as gold medalists after closest rivals Italy had lost to Serbia and Mon- TACHIKARA ASICS tenegro earlier in the day, Bernardo SV-5W (white, leather) shoes & uniforms Rezende’s men just had to complete the formalities and did so in great artistic MOLTEN CHAMPION style to silence the 12,000 screaming local IV58L (MTV5) (white) uniforms fans and walk away with the honour of IV58LC (MTV5IT) (color) having won the World League, the South IV5XC (MTV5SLIT) (color, synthetic DACAPO American championship and the World leather) uniforms Cup in the same year. GALA DESCENTE BV 5091L (color) shoes & uniforms “It is my privilege to be the first ever head BV 5091S (color, synthetic leather) coach of Brazil to win this tournament,” FNC KOLON Rezende said. “Our players did an excel- MONDO uniforms lent job and played superbly right Volleyball VBL-5 (white) throughout the tournament, despite the MIKASA long and tough campaign. CAMBUCI uniforms “Penalty” Volley Pro 6.0 (color) MIZUNO “Maybe this title has slightly less value QINGDAO-SYNSHEEN shoes & uniforms than the Olympics but it is still a great “Star” VB 205-34 (color) honour to win the World Cup and com- NIKE, INC. pletes a fantastic year for us.” WILSON shoes & uniforms “Reaction” (white, leather) SPEEDO USAhead coach Doug Beal summed it up Uniforms for International Referees, well after his side lost to the “Boys from INSPECTED BALLS Line Judges, Scorers, Officials & Play- Brazil” in straight sets in the Final Round. ers for BEACH WORLD TOUR and (Formerly Recommended Balls) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MONDO “Brazil is the best team in the world. Mondo Volley VS-T5 K-Concept Maybe the best thing about Brazil is that Mondo Mini Volley SYNTHETIC FLOORS they play well everyday. That’s the great (FIVB APPROVED) lesson for all the teams; to be the best, you BEACH VOLLEYBALLS have to play at your best all the time.” MONDO MIKASA exclusive for all : FIVB competitions incl. OG 2004 The whole tournament was an amazing VLS 200 (Color) Beach Exclusive Game Ball for all FIVB Mondoflex Blue Laguna H23 + Rose success with the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Flamingo H41 Nagano, Hiroshima, Hamamatsu, Competitions incl. OG 2004-2008 Fukuoka and Okayama all taking turns in TARAFLEX hosting the wonderful spectacle that is MOLTEN VBOS (HSBV5) (color) Beach Taraflex sport M 6431 Teal-6146 Coral the World Cup. And while it was Brazil Taraflex sport 3D (same colors) who enjoyed the event the most, other teams took great heart from their perfor- HOMOLOGATED POSTS, PADS mances including Italy, whose resur- ANTENNAE, NETS, SYNTHETIC FLOORS gence continues. In a repeat of the top REF.CHAIRS three at the 2003 World League, Italy this (Recommended) time finished ahead of Serbia and Mon- SENOH MONDO tenegro to claim the silver medal while Posts, pads, nets with antennae & Mondosport HP-E USAfinished fourth for the fourth time in referees’ chairs exclusive for all : PVC indoor floor their World Cup history ahead of France, FIVB competitions, incl. OG 2004 Blue Laguna H23 + Rose Flamingo H41 who finished fifth. 2 FIVB X-Press No 121 December 2003 VOLLEYBALL A LOOK BACK AT THE 2003 WORLD CUPS 2003 MEN’S WORLD CUP FINAL RESULTS (win-loss ratio in parenthesis) Brazilian fans offer their support Position Country 1 BRA (11-0) Men’s World Cup Magnificent Seven 2 ITA (9-2) Best Scorer and MVP: 3 SCG (9-2) Takahiro Yamamoto, Japan 4 USA (8-3) Best Spiker: Giovane, Brazil 5 FRA (7-4) Best Blocker: 6 KOR (5-6) Andrija Geric, Serbia and Montenegro 7 CAN (5-6) Best Server: Andrea Sartoretti, Italy 8 VEN (4-7) Best Setter: 9 JPN (3-8) Nikola Grbic, Serbia and Montenegro 10 CHN (2-9) Best Libero: Sergio, Brazil 11 TUN (2-9) Special award to Japan’s 12 EGY (1-10) Andrija Geric (SCG) spikes against Brazil Daisuke Usami 2003 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FINAL RESULTS (win-loss ratio in parenthesis) Hamamatsu Arena, Japan Position Country 1 CHN (11-0) Women’s World Cup Magnificent Seven: 2 BRA (10-1) 3 USA (8-3) China celebrate qualifying for the Athens Best Scorer/ MVP: 2004 Olympic Games Malgorzata Glinka, Poland 4 ITA (7-4) Best Spiker: Zhao Ruirui, China 5 JPN (7-4) 6 CUB (6-4) Best Blocker: Valenka Menezes, Brazil 7 TUR (5-6) Best Server: Zoila Barros Fernandez, Cuba 8 POL (5-6) 9 KOR (3-8) Best Setter: Feng Kun, China 10 DOM (3-8) Best Libero: Arlene Xavier, Brazil 11 ARG (1-10) Special award to Japan’s 12 EGY (0-10) Awesome support for Japan Yoshie Takahashi FIVB X-Press No 121 December 2003 3 VOLLEYBALL FINAL STANDINGS 2003 MEN’S WORLD LEAGUE Position Country 1 BRA In 2003, the $15 Million World League proved to be one of the richest and most significant annual international men’s Volleyball tournaments.