Brazil gets a jolt

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-06 09:33

Defending champion Brazil has been the dominant force in men's volleyball for the past few years.

It completed a string of major tournament victories after winning gold in Athens. The list included the 2007 World Cup, the 2007 South American championship and the 2006 World Championship.

A month before the Beijing Games, Brazil was tipped as a certainty for the gold.

"I believe my players are the best and we are confident of winning the championship in Beijing," said coach Bernardo Rezende.

The Brazilians had so much confidence in the squad, led by superstar Giba (see sidebar), that local media had called for the volleyball fans to make preparations to celebrate the team's success in Beijing.

But suddenly seeds of doubt have been sown.

Brazil failed to get a medal in the World Volleyball League Championships for the first time in 10 years, seven of it as champion.

It finished fourth in the final round of matches, played, ironically, in Rio de Janeiro, in the last week of July.

The US emerged champion, beating Serbia to second place. Russia took third place, defeating Brazil.

Said a chastened Brazilian coach Rezende said, "I am really sad because I was not able to recover the team emotionally. Some players were under their levels and did not make it. Let's work on these days to put them in a good shape again."

The US, which beat Brazil in straight games in the semifinal, now is a serious contender in Beijing. World League MVP Lloy Ball and wing-spikers William Priddy and Clayton Stanley will power the US quest for gold, after its disappointing fourth-place finish in Athens.

Ball recently spoke to the USA Volleyball website about playing in Beijing. "The Olympics is such a different kind of tournament," he said. "It's such an emotional ride up and down. It's such a physically demanding tournament. We play the whole two weeks.

"Then you throw in the factor that swimmers are done in two days and they're partying across the way in the village and weightlifters are done the first day...it's just chaos all the time.

"It takes a real strong athlete and a real strong team to do real well. I think we had that in 2004. I think because we have so many guys carrying over from that, we'll have it this time. I think we're going to have a real nice result. We've been really consistent the last two years.

"Obviously our goal is win a gold medal. But I know from experience that you need a little luck, you need a little timing. Sometimes we've had that and sometimes we have not. Regardless of the result, I know the team will give a great effort and I'll be happy with that."

Serbia and Russia have also thrown their hats into the ring. They have loads of talent and can challenge for the podium. Both also have a history of successes in the Olympics, Serbia being champion in Sydney 2000 and Russia bronze medalist at Athens and silver medalist before that at Sydney.

Italy, silver medalist at Athens, booked its ticket to Beijing by winning an Olympic qualifier. Luigi Mastrangelo, a 32-year-old middle blocker, who was his team's best player at the 2006 worlds, will lead its challenge.

Bulgaria could be the dark horse of the event. Its only volleyball hardware came in 1980 -- men's silver and women's bronze.

But the Bulgarians knocked off Serbia for bronze at the 2006 worlds and have a superb outside hitter in emerging superstar Matey Kaziyksi.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/06/2008 page8)