Brazil, SCG power to seventh straight wins at World Cup

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Brazil, SCG power to seventh straight wins at World Cup

World champions Brazil and Serbia and Montenegro stormed to their seventh straight victories at the 2003 men's volleyball World Cup.

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World champions Brazil and Serbia and Montenegro stormed to their seventh straight victories at the 2003 men's volleyball World Cup.

These two title favorites remained undefeated in the single round-robin tournament, which runs through November 30.

European champions Italy (6-1) and the United Stated (6-1) keptpressure on the leaders with crisp victories over Egypt and South Korea respectively while Tunisia rallied from two sets down to defeat Japan for their first win in seven tries.

Brazil dominated the match against Canada, taking the 25-13, 25-17 and 25-14 victory in 59 minutes. For Canada, it was all about damage limitation and giving younger players a run while key player Paul Duerden was also making his comeback from an ankle injury.

The Brazilians quickly opened an 8-4 lead in the first set withGiovane Gavio's lethal right hand spikes destroying the Canadian defense. The precise setting of Ricardo Garcia was breath taking and allowed Gustavo Endres and Andre Heller easy access to the spike.

Giovane sealed the first set with a whipping spike and the South American champions met no real challenge in the following two sets.

"We were able to employ tactics successfully today. I am happy to see the good attitude of the players towards today's match," said Brazilian head coach Bernardo Rezende. "We will be able to win the championship if we keep on playing like this consistently."

Nalbert Bitencourt had 10 kills and three blocks to lead Brazilwith 13 points, Gavio converted 11 of his 16 attacking opportunities to finish with 12.

Serbia and Montenegro beat Venezuela 25-23, 25-22 and 25-18 in Fukuoka. The Europeans have dropped only three sets in seven matches.

Side hitter Francesco Biribanti scored 28 points to lead Italy hammer Egypt 25-16, 25-16 and 25-17 for their sixth win in seven ties. The Africans remained as the only winless team in the 12-squad competitions.

The United States delivered South Korea 25-20, 25-20 and 25-17 and France beat China 25-16, 25-14, 24-26 and 25-19.

The inexperienced Chinese men struggled in the first two sets. They found their form in the third set, but that was too late.

"We watched France play yesterday and felt we would have a chance to win. However, the willing to win prevented us from doing our best in the first two sets," said Chinese spiker Tang Miao, who had scored 20 points in China's 3-1 defeat to Brazil butslipped to 11 on Monday.

"This is the first time I have seen our team unite to fight so well. The players concentrated well, and the match was very interesting," said French head coach Philippe Blain.

Top three finishers from the tournament will qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004.

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