Iran won their first ever Asian Volleyball Championship. In the final match Iran won 3:1 over China. Iran is qualified for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup 2011 in Japan.

Ahead of the tournament, coach Julio Velasco said it would be a tough task to pick up the gold medal in front of a home crowd, but his players duly delivered as they saw off China in the finals to cap off a memorable tournament.

The newly crowned champions will now travel to Japan for the World Cup from November 20 to December 4 with the sole aim of finishing in the top three which would see them earn their place at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Click Here: United Kingdom Rugby Jerseys

Iran’s victory in the 16th edition of the Asian Men’s Championship is their first gold medal ever – an improvement from their silver medal finish in 2009. Iran is the fifth nation to have won gold at the Asian Men’s Championship. China, added a sixth silver medal to their tally.

Individual Awards:
Most Valuable Player:  Arash Kamalvand (Iran)
Best Scorer:  Jeon Kwang-In (Korea)
Best Server:  Kim Yo-Han (Korea)
Best Spiker:  Nathan Roberts (Australia)
Best Blocker:  Liang Chunlong (China)
Best Setter:  Amir Hosseini (Iran)
Best Libero:  Farhad Zarif (Iran)

Final Standings:
1. Iran
2. China
3. Korea
4. Australia
5. Japan
6. India
7. Pakistan
8. Sri Lanka
9. Kazakhstan
10. Thailand
11. Indonesia
12. Qatar
13. Chinese Taipei
14. Turkmenistan
15. Afghanistan
16. Uzbekistan

source: FIVB

Canadian opposite Gavin Schmitt set new record. He has beaten his old record of 57 points in Korean volleyball league by one point.

“Well that was interesting, can’t really feel my legs… Broke my own record though, guess that’s kinda cool,” said Gavin on his facebook page.

How is it possible to make 58 points? You need to play five sets and receive a lot of sets, block and serve like monster. Gavin scored 52 points in attack, 4 in block a 2 aces. Gavin is impressive jumper and attacker. With his physical parameters he is the KING in Korea!

Top 5 best world scores:

1. Gavin Schmitt (Canada) 58 points
2. Gavin Schmitt (Canada) 57 points
Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership3. Liberman Agamez (Columbia) 55 points
4. James Nyang’au Ontere (Kenya) 53 points
5. Ernardo Gomez (Venezuela) 51 points

source: inside-volley.com

’’We are ready to do our best. No Injury, no pain, this is a game to play with the heart and total concentration,” said Oreol Camejo, best spiker of the competition.

Sada/Cruzeiro and Volei Futuro made on Thursday morning the first training session before the final of men’s volleyball Super league 11/12. The teams, seeking their first title, trained in the Hall Poliesportivo in Sao Bernardo do Campo (SP). The final will be held at 10am this Saturday (21.4). The decisive showdown will be broadcast on TV Globo and channel Sportv and Sports Interactive. 

Click Here: camisetas de futbol baratasAcacio, middle blocker Cruzeiro team, is willing to change the history of last season when he finished with the runner-up.

“Out of court both teams respect each other. They already consider this game a classic Brazilian volleyball. The Volei Futuro is a team with tradition. We have one more shot at one end of Super league. Last year we hit the crossbar. This year we want  this title, ” says Acacio

“Fans of Cruzeiro have really supported us throughout the competition. I’m sure this will give us a lot of strength“, the player bets.

Companion of Acacio in Sada Cruzeiro, the opposite Wallace ensures that the team is prepared for the decisive match.

“We are peaceful. We have the experience of having played the final in last year. Our group is amazing and deserves that title,” said the spiker, who appears as the third best scorer of the championship with 458 points (408 attack, 37 blocking and drawing 13).

Best scorer in Super League with 516 points (448 attack, 38 and 30 lock drawing), opposite Lorena (Volei Futuro) says that the two victories of Sada Cruzeiro this season by 3 x 2 and 3 x 1 does not mean that the result of the final will be the same.

“The two losses do not represent the Sada Cruzeiro is a bogeyman. Bet on a balanced game because both teams are very well prepared. Their team is reaching for second consecutive time the final and they have a team with great players, ” said Lorena..

Known to always play with great emotion, Lorena is ready for the final. “I consider this as the championship game. Now, I want to have fun. This is a time for enjoy. Having arrived here there is no achievement because we all want the title, but in the end, who has bigger determination will be CHAMPION, ” says Lorena.

Ricardinho, Volei Futuro , speaks about the quality of the finalists. “Today there is already a rivalry between the two groups. The work of Volei Futuro is excellent. However, both teams did a great competition and deserve to win the title,” concludes Ricardinho.

Sada/Cruzeiro has the best spiker of the competition and Volei Futuro the best blocker. Who will became the CHAMPION???

Brazil defeated Russia and made a surprise gaining qualification to semifinal. The defending champion won in tie-break and finished Ekaterina Gamova’s international career. China will not maintain a medal run and will not repeat achievements from Beijing and Athens. Yeon Kim led Korea to the biggest surprises of the tournament. American women have not given opportunities Dominicans Republic.

Russia 2 – 3 Brazil

Top scorers: L. Sokolova 28, E. Gamova 25, N. Goncharova 25; Sheilla C. 27, Thaisa M. 24, Fabiana C. 14

Fantastic, wonderful, amazing, extraordinary. You should use only such adjectives describing the quarterfinal match between Brazil and Russia which was the best volleyball competition among women this year or maybe, the best game during the whole Olympic cycle.

Brazil qualified for the semis of the 2012 Olympics after a memorable match where the 2008 Olympic champions stormed back twice from one set down and even saved six match balls to eventually edge Russia 3-2 (24-26, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, and 21-19). Sheilla Castro paced Brazil with 27 points while Thaisa Menezes chipped in with 24; Russia’s offense was anchored by Liubov Shashkova with 28, as 25 points apiece were scored by Ekaterina Gamova and Nataliya Goncharova.

The game was really emotional, lasting for more than 2 hours and 20 minutes, and packed with continuous turnarounds, with the South Americans always believing in their chances to make it to the next stage of the competition. Russian star and FIVB hero Ekaterina Gamova bid farewell to the national team at the end of this match as she had announced before traveling to London the Olympics would have been her last appearance with the jersey of the “sbornaya”.

Brazil will compete with Japan in semis-final.

Japan 3 – 2 China

Top scorers: Y. Ebata 33, S. Kimura 33, R. Shinnabe 12; R. Hui 26, Y. Wang 22, J. Yang 11

Team Japan were the first to qualify for the semi-finals of the women’s volleyball tournament as Saori Kimura and Yukiko Ebata scored 33 points apiece to eventually edge China 3-2 (28-26, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, and 18-16) at the end of a classy match that was followed by some 15,000 fans at Earls Court. Japan were actually close to finish it off in the fourth set but eventually could not capitalize on their lead there while China missed out on two match balls in the tie-break. This is a very special moment for Team Japan that come back to the semis at the Olympics after 24 years, the last top four finish dating back to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Additionally, Japan scored their first win over China in 11 years as far as FIVB competitions are concerned, even though the group currently mentored by Masayoshi Manabe had edged their Asian archrivals four times in the past few years, but exclusively in invitational tournaments or in friendly matches. Ruoqi Hui and Yimei Wang paced China’s offense with 26 and 22 points but Japan stayed cool to fire up the celebrations of their many fans in the stands. The result is really significant especially since Japan had claimed, up to today, only 6 out of 45 official international matches with China. In the semis coming up on Thursday Japan will play Brazil.

USA 3 – 0 Dominican Republic

Top scorers: D. Hooker 19, F. Akinradewo 12, J. Larson 11; P. Rivera 14, B. De la Cruz 12, C. Arias Perez 7

The United States extended their winning streak also to the 1/4 finals of the women’s volleyball tournament downing the Dominican Republic in straight sets (25-14, 25-21, and 25-22) to qualify for the semis scheduled for Thursday and play there the winning side of the last game on schedule for Tuesday, Italy or Korea.
Via this classy performance the players coached by Hugh McCutcheon re-asserted their role as top contenders for the gold medal that will be at stake later this week. 
Destinee Hooker paced Team USA with 19 points with Foluke Akinradewo and Jordan Larson also finishing in double digits with 12 and 11 respectively while Prisilla Rivera and Bethania de la Cruz were once more the major force in offense for the Caribbean side with 15 and 12.

Italy 1 – 3 Korea

Top scorers: A. Del Core 16, S. Gioli 14, L. Bosetti 13, Y-K. Kim 28, S-Y. Han 17, H-J. Yang 12

It is the biggest surprise of the Olympics. Korea qualified for the semis of the 2012 Olympics by edging Italy 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-20, and 25-18) anchored by the 28 points scored by their star Kim Yeon-Koung thereby making it to the top four for the first time since the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Italy’s offense was evenly distributed with five players finishing in double digits – and Antonella Del Core top scoring with 16 – but after a good start their play got somehow stuck and the defeat turned this Olympic campaign into another major disappointment after Italy had already failed to find their way to the semis in Athens and in Beijing. Having already taken one set from the USA in the prelims, Korea are expected to be a very tough opponent for the stellar US American side coached by Hugh McCutcheon in the semis on Thursday.

Semifinals

Brazil – Japan 09 – Aug 19:30 local time/ 20:30 CET

Korea – USA 09 – Aug 15:00 local time/ 16:00 CET

Source: own news/ FIVB
 

Click Here: cheap sydney roosters jersey

An Italian coach, Massimo Barbolini, signed a contract with the Turkish Federation to carry out the women’s national team. The deal will take effect till the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 2016.

Massimo Barbolini actually is being employed by Galatasaray Istanbul. Previously, he trained Italian National Team in the years 2006 – 2012. Having coached Italy, Barbolini won the Volley World Cup twice (2007, 2011), European Championship twice (2007, 2009), and the Grand Cup Champoinship 2009.

Earlier, he also won the Women’s Champions League (1996, 2006) and the Championship of Italy (1994, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2007).

This spring, Barbolini will guide Galatasaray Istanbul in the Final Four Champions League and then, he is going to decide if he continue cooperation with the club or if he focus only on the work of the national team.

Click Here: camiseta rosario central

After two years of playing for Polish team, Rouzier completed his contract. For now there is no information about his next employer.

Antonin Rouzier came to PlusLiga in 2011. Since then he earned two medals – bronze during the season 2011/2012 and silver, just a few months ago after loosing finals with Asseco Resovia Rzeszow. With his help, Zaksa Kedzierzyn Kozle also won Polish Cup and got to the Final Four of Champions League.

Click Here: cheap Cowboys jersey

French player also had some individual achievements in Poland. This year he was the best spiker of Champions League and last season he gained a title of the best scorer in PlusLiga.

Rouzier had some tough time in the end of the last play-offs. He couldn’t reach his best form and it was explained by his personal problems. Today Zaksa is saying goodbye. Polish vice-champion has already two opposites in it’s team – Dominik Witczak and a new name – Grzegorz Bociek, who came from AZS Czestochowa.

Competiton for 12 places in Play Off stages in Men’s Champions’ League is even more curious than in Women’s. In Pool A situation is still not clear – both Tours and Copra Piacenza have 10 points. Currently both will advance, but lost 2 legs may change everything.

Results:

Tours VB – ACH Volley Ljubljana 3-2 (26-24 22-25 25-21 21-25 15-7)

Tours: Araujo Pinheiro (5), Baranek (17), Hardy-Dessources (13), Konecny (22), Klinkenberg (13), Smith (10), Exiga (L) and Falafala, Dillies (1), Collin, Hoag
ACH: Ropret (2), Flajs (9), Vidic (7), Cuk (24), Pokersnik (12), Rasic (17), Fabjan (L) and Klobucar (1), Brulec (1), Kocilija, Plesko, Bregant

ACH Volley impressed the audience with a very strong start (4:8, 5:10) but finally the home heroes could find their rhythm and started their comeback (10:11). The game continued with teams playing point for point and even though the guests from Slovenia had a slim margin (20:22) by the time the final phases were approaching, still Tours VB could flip the charts around and bring it home at 26-24.

Once more ACH Volley caught a good start in the second set (3:8, 6:10) but similarly to what had happened in the first, Tours VB responded by leveling the score at 14 all. TOURS VB then changed gear and opened a small cushion (20:17) before ACH Volley performed an amazing comeback (21:23) to tie the score in sets (22-25).

Tours VB delighted their home fans with a strong start in the third set (6:2) and this time ACH Volley could not hold the pace imposed by the local heroes (13:9); Tours VB set the pace also at the second technical time-out (16:13) and did not look back to cash the provisional 2:1 (25-21).

Tours VB stretched momentum also to the early phases of the fourth set (3:0) but ACH Volley this time responded quite quickly to make it 5:8 at the first technical time-out. ACH Volley still had to stand the comeback by the hosts who leveled the score at 15 with an ace by their captain David Konecny. The Slovenian guys showed a good performance in defense to get back control of the game (16:19) and call for the tie-break (21-25).

Tours VB caught a flying start there (4:1) and continued to impose their pace also after teams had changed sides of the court (9:6). Tours VB displayed great actions in defense as well as in attack (12:6) to claim their fourth straight victory in the competition (15-7).

Press conference:

“We played a good game but we slowed down in the tie-break and it is a real pity” said ACH Volley head coach Luka Slabe after the game.

“We did not play our best in the opening section of the game but we did so in the tie-break and this is also reflected by the final score” commented home mentor Mauricio Paes.

Team Stats:

ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeRec ExcRec PosErrorsTours5545%17948%63%29ACH5442%13639%56%37

Team Leaders:

ActionsPointsSpike ptsSpike %BlockAceErrorsDavid Konecny221942%215Andjelko Cuk242243%2010

Marek Union-Ivkoni Dupnitsa – Copra Elior Piacenza 0-3 (24-26 19-25 14-25)

Marek: Gjorgiev (3), Elchinov (9), Trifonov (9), Kadankov (5), Yordanov (4), Apostolov (5), Bozhilov (L) and Velichkov (1), Mandzhukov (5), Ivanov
Copra: De Cecco (1), Kaliberda (9), Fei (9), Vettori (2), Zlatanov (14), Simon Aties (9), Marra (L) and Papi, Tencati, Le Roux (12)

And indeed Dupnitsa had started the game quite strong exploiting some errors by their rivals to lead the way at the first technical time-out of the opening set (8:6). The home heroes showed great fighting spirit and a very good attitude while Piacenza was still struggling to find their rhythm. The hosts could keep a slim margin also at the second mandatory stop (16:14) as their setter and team captain Gjorgi Gjorgiev continued to change options in attack. However, Piacenza showed their value and experience to fight their way back and edge the young Bulgarians in a very close final section of that set (24-26).

The guests from Italy played their best in the opening of the second set (8:3) and easily controlled the game (16:9); they had reduced their errors to a minimum and the young boys mentored by Nayden Naydenov had to surrender as their opponents cruised to a quite comfortable 25-19 to make it 2:0 in sets.

After losing the first as well as the second set, Dupnitsa looked knocked down and Piacenza stormed out to a terrific 8:2 to set the tone of the game in the third. The fighting spirit and also the enthusiasm that the home guys had showed earlier in the match had almost disappeared. A service error by Mihael Mandzhukov called for the second technical time-out with Piacenza in full control (16:8) and the Italians ultimately wrapped it up at 25-14 to claim their third victory in the competition and cement their second place in Pool A with 10 points.

Team Stats:

ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeRec ExcRec PosErrorsMarek3747%3133%59%23Copra3757%17222%49%19

Team Leaders:

ActionsPointsSpike ptsSpike %BlockAceErrorsGeorgi Elchinov9953%006Hristo Zlatanov141050%401

Descriptions and press conference: CEV

Click Here: Cheap FIJI Rugby Jersey

Olympiacos won the second game of this season by 3-0. Pamvohaikos was not as good as it was expected, the team suffered from inconsistency and they need to find out the mechanism in their game.

Olympiacos on the other hand was more consistent and had more solutions in attack and reception, even though their main libero, George Stefanou was injured as well as one their best middle blockers George Papadopoulos.

On the other game of the 2nd match day of the Greek volleyball league, AO Kifisias made a clear victory 3-0 over Milon. The team of AO Kifisias was a better team in all levels than Milon although they had played much better in the previous match day against Foinikas Siros. Milonas suffered in reception and their attackers were blocked by AO Kifisias excellent blockers.

Click Here: new zealand rugby team jerseys

The strongest teams easily defeated their opponents in the tenth round of Greek Championship. There were five straight-set victories in Volleyleague.

On Saturday games Foinikas easily won 0-3 (23-25, 23-25, 13-25) over the home team of Lamia. The new players of Syros team were the stars of the game. The Brazilian diagonal Pedro Dornellas scored 19, Stelios Nikiforidis 15 and Toni Kovacevic 12 points.

Aris Thessalonikis continue climbing in the standings by easily winning 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 20-25) the home team of Panathinaikos in Athens. For Aris the Greek diagonal Tzelatis scored 17 points.

Kifisia also claimed straight-set victory (17-25, 20-25, 20-25) against Niki Aiginiou. Christos Bellos and Theoklitos Karipidis had both scored from 16 points leading their team to an easily home win.

Although Pamvohaikos lost the first set he finally managed to win 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23) over Ethnikos Alexandroupolis. Leonardo Caldeira scoring 17 and Zoran Jovanovic scoring 19 points were the leaders of Vrahati’s team.

On Sunday’s game PAOK having a great performance managed to win 3-0 over MIlonas and climb at the third position of the standings. For PAOK team Xatziiliadis, Mavronouniotis, Armenakis and Kanelos were in a great day.

Olympiakos on Monday at the last game of the round easily won 0-3 (18-25, 22-25, 19-25) over the home team of Iraklis in Thessaloniki. For Olympiakos team the Bulgarian left handed diagonal Boyan Yordanov scored 15, the middle blocker Nikolaos Smaragdis 9 and the outside hitter Kokkinakis 11 points.

Tenth round results in Greek Volleyleague

PAOK – Milonas: 3-0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-17)

Lamia – Foinikas Syrou: 0-3 (23-25, 23-25, 13-25)

Pamvohaikos – Ethnikos Alexandroupolis: 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23)

Kifisia – Niki Aiginiou: 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-19)

Panathinaikos – Aris Thessalonikis: 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 20-25)

Iraklis Thessalonikis – Olympiakos: 0-3 (18-25, 22-25, 19-25)

Standings

Olympiakos 29, Aris 20, PAOK 19, Pamvohaikos 18, Ethnikos Alexandroupolis 17, Foinikas Syroy 15, Lamia 14, Kifisia 13, Iraklis Thessalonikis 10, Niki Aiginiou 10, Panathinaikos 7, Milonas 3,

Best action of ninth round games

Click Here: Cardiff Blues Store