Translated material
Honor the neighbor's flag
Serbia and Montenegro created a sensation for the second time in a row
At the Women's World Championships in Japan, the Russian team won its second victory in a row. The team of Italian specialist Giovanni Caprara, playing in the top six of the first group stage, prevailed over their rivals from Azerbaijan - 3:1 (25:19, 25:21, 19:25, 25:20). The Russians share the leadership in their sextet with Germany and China, who also showed a 100% result.The best in our team yesterday were Lyubov Sokolova and libero Svetlana Kryuchkova. The first attacked very effectively even after awkward passes, the second did an excellent job with its direct responsibilities - receiving and playing defense. Yulia Merkulova noticeably dropped out of the overall picture. She gained almost nothing in either attack or blocking. But her colleague in the role, Maria Borodakova, can count this match as her asset. Most of her attacks at the first pace were effective, and the capital's Dynamo team managed to get three points directly from the serve.
The Azerbaijani team, as usual, relied on Natalya Mammadova, for which the Russians were quite ready. Mammadova was often blocked by a block; the end of the fourth set was especially indicative, when Caprara’s team took three points in a row thanks to this technical element. Let us remind you that during the last season, our team lost to Azerbaijan three times before defeating this team in the bronze medal match of the European Championship in Croatia. But this year the picture is exactly the opposite. Russia won all three head-to-head meetings - at the Yeltsin Cup, at the preliminary stage of the Grand Prix and now at the World Championship.
The main discovery of the tournament was the national team of Serbia and Montenegro, which competed for the last time under this name - last spring, the union state ceased to exist as a result of a referendum in Montenegro. However, only Serbian players play in the current team, and during matches, gathering in a circle before entering the court after time-outs, they only shout “Serbia!” Being only seventh at the 2005 European Championships, the Serbians created a sensation in Japan for the second day in a row. After defeating the reigning world champions Italians, they defeated other medal contenders from Cuba - 3:1 (25:22, 22:25, 25:20, 25:23). But just recently, at the qualifying tournament for the Grand Prix in Bulgaria, which took place at the end of September and beginning of October, the Serbian women looked unstable. They imposed a stubborn five-set fight on the Russians, unexpectedly prevailed over Turkey, again playing a tiebreaker, but unconditionally lost to Italy. By the way, in the confrontation with the Squadra Azura, the progress of the national team of Serbia and Montenegro can be clearly seen from the results of the last matches - 0:3 in Varna, 1:3 and 2:3 at the international tournament in Alessio and now 3:1 in Japan.
If the Serbs do not make an unfortunate misfire in the next matches with Turkey (there is no doubt about their victories over frankly weak Egypt and Peru), then before the start of the second group stage the main troublemakers at the championship will have maximum results and excellent chances of reaching the semi-finals. For the Russian team, it is not yet a fact that a victory over Azerbaijan will count towards the next stage. It is not at all ruled out that our yesterday's rivals will take fifth place in Group B and leave Japan ahead of schedule.
On the second day of play, some teams seemed to remember that according to the regulations, in the event of a tie between two or more participants, the primary criterion for the distribution of places is the ratio of goals, not sets, and began to smash their opponents. For example, Japan, which suffered a sensational defeat from Taiwan the day before, left no chance for Costa Rica - 3:0 (25:9, 25:11, 25:14). The Turkish women dealt with Egypt just as fiercely - 3:0 (25:11, 25:13, 25:8).
Today is a rest day at the tournament, and tomorrow the Russians will meet with Germany. The game starts at ten o'clock in the morning Moscow time.
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Results. World Championship. Group "A". Taiwan - Kenya - 3:0, Poland - Korea - 3:2, Japan - Costa Rica - 3:0. Team position: Taiwan, Poland - 4 points each, Japan, Korea - 3, Costa Rica, Kenya - 1. Group “B”. Russia - Azerbaijan - 3:1, Germany - Mexico - 3:0, China - Dominican Republic - 3:0. Team position: Russia. Germany, China - 4, Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Mexico - 2. Group “C”. Brazil - Kazakhstan - 3:0, Puerto Rico - Cameroon - 3:0, USA - Holland - 3:2. Team standings: Brazil, USA - 4, Holland, Puerto Rico - 3, Kazakhstan, Cameroon - 2. Group “D”. Serbia and Montenegro - Cuba - 3:1, Turkey - Egypt - 3:0, Italy - Peru - 3:0. Team position: Serbia and Montenegro - 4, Turkey, Italy, Peru, Cuba - 3, Egypt - 0.