 Lausanne, Switzerland, November 20, 2009 -- FIVB World Grand Prix (WGP) champions Brazil and FIVB Women’s World Grand Champions Italy have been pooled together in Brazil on the opening weekend of the 2010 edition of the WGP as the official pool composition for the 2010 edition of the women’s premier annual Volleyball event was confirmed by the FIVB World Grand Prix Council on Friday.
The 2010 World Grand Prix will start on August 6, 2009 with the three preliminary rounds ending on August 22. The final round will follow directly afterwards in Ningbo, China from August 25–29.
The pool composition, which is based on the FIVB World Rankings, the results of the 2009 World Grand Prix and special requests from organizers, was decided by the World Grand Prix Council after also taking into consideration feedback from the teams following the 2009 edition.
The 18th edition of the FIVB World Grand Prix will be the last FIVB event for women ahead of the 2010 Women’s World Championship in Japan, where all WGP teams feature.
The 12 teams to compete in the 2010 WGP were confirmed in October after the European Championship semifinalists were confirmed. The top four - Poland, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands – at the European Champions qualified for the 2010 WGP and joined defending champion Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea, Poland, Puerto Rico, Thailand and the United States.
The schedule:
Week one (August 6-9)
Group A (in Brazil): Brazil, Italy, Japan, Korea
Group B( in Poland): Poland, Germany, United States, Dominican Republic
Group C(in Chengdu of China): China, Netherlands, Thailand, Puerto Rico
Week two (from August 13-15)
Group D(in Thailand): Thailand, Italy, United States, Puerto Rico
Group E(in Macau): China, Brazil, Netherland, Dominican republic
Group F(in Japan): Japan, Poland, Germany, Korea
Week three (from August 20-22)
Group G(in Hong Kong): China, United States, Germany, Thailand)
Group H(in Korea): Korea, Brazil, Poland, Puerto Rico
Group I(in Japan): Japan, Netherlands, Italy, Dominican Republic
Week four (finals) from August 25-29 in Ningbo of China
China and the top five ranked teams after the preliminary rounds |