Osaka, Nov 16: Final Olympic women`s volleyball berth goes to USA. The United States women`s volleyball team on Saturday (November 15) qualified for the Olympics, joining China and Brazil.
The USA beat Cuba 3-0 in Osaka with a classic display of strength and skill -- but that alone was not enough to get them on the fast track to the Olympics. The Americans had to wait for the Brazil-Italy game, in which the Italians needed to keep a clean sheet to qualify ahead of the USA. But Brazil proved too strong and took the first set 25-20, meaning that the Americans, not the Italians, immediately qualified for Athens. The Brazilians won the match 3-1. China maintained their clean sheet, beating Japan 3-0 to win all of their 11 games in the tournament. In action that decided the bottom half of the table, emerging volleyball power Turkey beat Korea 3-0; Dominican Republic defeated Argentina 3-1; and Poland beat Egypt 3-0.


Poland`s Malgorzata Glinka was the tournament`s top scorer and Most Valuable Player.


Bureau Report