Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 23, 2008 – Two 3-0 matches opened the Final Round of the 2008 FIVB World League in Rio. Brazil beat Russia, while Serbia had not faced many problems against USA.

Winner of the last five editions of the FIVB World League, reigning Olympic and World Champion Brazil debuted perfectly in the Final Round. In a Volleyball Titans meeting, the team coached by Bernardo Rezende, pushed by more than 10,500 fans, overcame Russia by 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-15) at Maracanazinho Gymnasium. The best scorers of the match were Dante, of Brazil, and Poltavskiy, of Russia, with 16 points each.

“We cannot face this result as a real test for Brazil” said Bernardo Rezende, the Brazilian Head Coach. “Russia made many mistakes and did not play in the way they use to do. We need to keep improving.”

Russian Head Coach Vladimir Alekno replied: “It is always the same story when we play against Brazil. We dispute point by point and, in the end, they go ahead. We made many mistakes on serving and this was the difference.”

In the second match of the day, looking for their first title in FIVB World League, the teams of Serbia and USA opened the Pool F. In the end of the match, the European team won by 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-17) and added their first two points in the rankings. The spiker Ivan Miljkovic, of Serbia, led all scorers with 16 points. The American Clayton Stanley made 10 points.

Serbian Captain Nikola Grbic commented: “I am pretty satisfied with our game, especially in block and defense. I really hope we can keep this rhythm until Beijing.”

A sad Thomas Hoff, USA Captain, replied that “The biggest disappointment to me is the fact that we did not play as a team. We need to recover the way of playing we had before. Now we will have to clear our mind to play against Poland. I don’t want to talk about tactics; we have to look at our side, first.”

On Thursday, the wild card Japan and Poland will make their debut in Rio facing respectively Russia and USA.

Match schedule

Thursday, July 24

10:00 Japan – Russia

13:15 USA – Poland

Friday, July 25

10:00 Brazil – Japan

13:15 Poland – Serbia

Saturday, July 26

10:00 Semi-final 1st F – 2nd E

13:15 Semi-final 1st E – 2nd F

Sunday, July 27

09:30 Bronze-medal match

12:30 Gold-medal match