Final countdown for World League, World Grand Prix

Official Bulletin No. 7 July 007 FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE VOLLEYBALL Edition in English Final countdown for World League, World Grand Prix and SWATCH FIVB World Championships July and August are key months for some of the FIVB 007 top events. Fans all over the world, sitting in the sports halls or in front of the television, thanks to the worldwide broadcasting contracts signed by the FIVB, will see the best show on the sand and on the Volleyball courts. FIVB World League 007 The 007 World League is on the run, and while this July issue is being printed, Katowice will open the door of its «Spodek» hall with its 0,0 seats to the six teams qualified. Of course, Poland has a big dream: they ve never been on a World League podium and, aside from having lot of fans on the stands as host country, Raul Lozano s team is one of the more powerful squads seen in the Pools. The competitors are not there to watch and this 8th edition promises to be one of the best ever. SWATCH FIVB World Championships The SWATCH FIVB World Championships will live a superb edition, the first ever played in the Alps. Gstaad has shown in the past how great its organization can be, having set up many SWATCH World Tour events in the past. From 4th to 9th of July tons of sand will be poured beneath the mountains to crown the best men and women Beach Volleyball players, after FIVB World Grand Prix. Sassa spiking for Brazil against Russia in last year final the 005 edition in Berlin won by May Treanor - Walsh and Marcio Araujo - Fabio. 007 FIVB World Grand Prix Last but non least, the 007 World Grand Prix will fill the August agenda with 4 weeks full of spikes and passion, with a total of 65 matches played by some of the best women s national teams on planet Earth. The very first referee s whistle is expected on the rd of August: during the first, second and third week each team will play 9 matches. Preliminary rounds will be organized in Japan (), Italy, Poland, Macau, Hong Kong, Russia and Chinese Taipei. The final fireworks are expected in Ningbo, where from nd to 6th of August the top 5 ranked teams among Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, U.S.A. and the host country China will give their best to find an heir to Brazil, 006 champion for the third year in a row and six times gold medal in the World Grand Prix history. The Ningbo Beilun Gymnasium, designed especially for Volleyball events, is expected to fill its 8,000 places with enthusiastic fans, like it has been for the last 4 editions. Fabio Magalhaes against Sascha Heyer in Berlin, in 005. SWATCH FIVB World Championships is now staged in Gstaad Top Events for future top players The FIVB calendar also features the 007 Men s Junior World Championship (Casablanca & Rabat, Morocco, 7th - 5th July 007), the 007 Women s Junior World Championship (Nakhonrachasima, Thailand, 0th - 7th July 007), the 007 Girls Youth World Championship (Tijuana & Mexicali, Mexico, st July - th August 007), followed on the same site by the 007 Boys Youth World Championship from 5th to 6th of August. Young player on the sand, too. The 007 Youth SWATCH FIVB World Championships in Myslowice will be held in July (th-5th), while the Junior SWATCH FIVB World Championships will take place in Modena in September. Quick Sets World Volley News opens a new column with this July issue: «Quick sets», like the fastest Mikasa ball spiked by a middleblocker, will tell short Volleyball tales from around the world, reporting facts and close-up faces. All the media around the world are invited to contribute, otherwise they re welcome to contact the FIVB Press Department if they need to have more details of these stories for their publications. In this Issue Volleyball 007 World League: weekends, 4 and 5 Beach Volleyball SWATCH FIVB World Tour Development AVC steps up developing Volleyball National Federations British National Team players join the Dutch League CEV awards in Vienna Quick Sets News from planet Earth www.fivb.org

Volleyball volleyball men 007 FIVB World League The long way to Katowice The FIVB World League gets closer to its Final Round. All over the world, sixteen teams are competing for the six places in Katowice: Poland as hosting country, the first teams in each Pool, plus one wild card chosen by the FIVB. Brazil, Russia and Bulgaria are the first teams to get their tickets for the Spodek hall. Here is the story of three tough weekends. WEEK In Pool A, the first applause to Brazil came from the Brazilian Sport Minister, Orlando Silva Jr., sat in the Ibirapuera Gymnasium beside Ary Graça, President of the CBV. The time zone was an added player: the South Korean team was really tired and closed the tour with no sets won at all. Finland smiled after the -0 and - victories with Canada that meant a second place in the standings behind Brazil. Lahti was packed with a very young audience: 0,00 in two days, most of all from a junior cup played beside the event. Pool B starts with two matches at the mirror. France - U.S.A. - on Friday, reverse result on Saturday. Without captain Antiga, recovering, France found a leader in Frantz Granvorka not just as a new captain. But on Saturday the U.S.A. had a really different attitude: Salmon (8 points) and partners could be satisfied with the Lyon experience. The biggest surprise came from Japan, where the eight-time World League champion, Italy, fell in the second Komaki match on the tie break. Memories come from last year when, during the World League pools, Japan took an important scalp beating Serbia -0. Week - Results Date Teams Result Pool A - Intercontinental Round 08-Jun Brazil - Korea -0 08-Jun Finland - Canada -0 09-Jun Brazil - Korea -0 09-Jun Finland - Canada - Pool B - Intercontinental Round 08-Jun France - U.S.A. - 09-Jun Japan - Italy - 09-Jun France - U.S.A. - 0-Jun Japan - Italy - Pool C - Intercontinental Round 08-Jun Egypt - Russia 0-08-Jun Cuba - Serbia - 09-Jun Cuba - Serbia - 0-Jun Egypt - Russia 0- Pool D - Intercontinental Round 09-Jun Argentina - Bulgaria - 09-Jun China - Poland - 0-Jun China - Poland - 0-Jun Argentina - Bulgaria 0- Even with its stars back in the s, Egypt in Pool C wasn t able to stop the spiking machines from Russia. In Cuba, Serbia started with a tie-break loss. Too many errors and an outstanding match played by Michael Sanchez, nicknamed The Russian (8 points), had the standing ovation of the 5,000 audience. The Serbian answer wasn t far away: -. Argentina s home debut against Bulgaria could even have been different, if the young Argentinean team had not spoilt a -0 start in the fifth set (-). The Sunday match wasn t so similar: Bulgaria realized a perfect 0-. Two wins for Poland closed the week-end in China. - in the first match, then the Polish experience was heavy enough to overthrow an 8-4 in the tie-break (4-6) of the second match. 4 points by Michal Winiarsky in two days. WEEK 4 For Canada, the matches played in the Mineirinho gymnasium in Belo Horizonte were Mission Impossible &. In front of,0 fans, the opposite spiker Anderson was particularly stirred to action with 4 points, leading the action since Canada had only 4 team blocks. After this -0, the Saturday match was a little bit better for Canada (-): but a terrific wave of 7.68 excited spectators pushed Brazil to victory. With two - in a row, Finland beat Korea in Turku. The second match was tougher: a strong Korea won the first set, and then a quick Finnish team came back to close the game. U.S.A. made a double strike against Italy. In Chicago, Gardner and Priddy (8) were nearly unstoppable for the Azzurri, who made 9 service errors and lost the first match -. In the second match, Italy was forced to change the libero: having Alessandro Farina out for a labyrinthitis Week 4 - Results Date Teams Result Pool A - Intercontinental Round 5-Jun Brazil - Canada -0 5-Jun Finland - Korea - 6-Jun Brazil - Canada - 6-Jun Finland - Korea - Pool B - Intercontinental Round 5-Jun U.S.A. - Italy - 6-Jun U.S.A. - Italy -0 6-Jun France - Japan -0 7-Jun France - Japan - Pool C - Intercontinental Round 6-Jun Russia - Egypt -0 6-Jun Serbia - Cuba - 7-Jun Russia - Egypt - 7-Jun Serbia - Cuba 0- Pool D - Intercontinental Round 6-Jun Argentina - Poland - 6-Jun China - Bulgaria 0-7-Jun China - Bulgaria 0-7-Jun Argentina - Poland 0- Rodrigao (BRA) and Kyoung-Min (KOR). Brazil has won four World League in a row disease, Paparoni was in. In Strasbourg, France gained 4 points, but Japan was very close to getting another important victory. French setter Pujol hurt his ankle, Loïc Le Marrec was setting for the second game. Japan, driven especially by Naohiro, Koshikawa and Ishijima, had the tie-break chance but a 8- leading was unbeatable. Egypt managed to win its second set during the Sunday match against Russia, but after the tour in Kazan still lacked victories. Having to forget their start, including a set lost 5-8, Egypt played a good second match: it ended on -, showing a nice battle between the two top scorers, Semen Poltavsky (RUS, 9 points) and Ahmed Abd Elnaeim (EGY, 8 points). Vadim Khamuttskikh, captain of the national team of Russia, stressed his worrying: The Egyptian team has given a good lesson for us: never relax, always keep level, every match all the team, including the ones expected to be sitting in the bench, should be ready to play and fight for every ball. Two cities, Beograd and Novi Sad, and two completely different stories for Serbia - Cuba. Supported by more than 8,000 people, mainly youngsters, Week 5 - Results Date Teams Result Pool A - Intercontinental Round -Jun Korea - Finland - -Jun Canada - Brazil 0-4-Jun Korea - Finland - -Jun Canada - Brazil 0- Pool B - Intercontinental Round -Jun France - Italy - -Jun Japan - U.S.A. 0- -Jun France - Italy - 4-Jun Japan - U.S.A. 0- Pool C - Intercontinental Round -Jun Egypt - Serbia 0- -Jun Russia - Cuba -0 4-Jun Russia - Cuba -0 4-Jun Egypt - Serbia 0- Pool D - Intercontinental Round -Jun Bulgaria - Poland - -Jun China - Argentina -0 4-Jun China - Argentina - 4-Jun Bulgaria - Poland - FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007

World League 007 Serbia managed to win after a disastrous start, stopping a Cuban match point in the forth set. In the fifth set, the Serbs took control of the game. But with 4 blocks, Cuba was able to grab all three sets in the second match. This was a game of cat and mouse says Serbian head coach Igor Kolakovic. Cuba demonstrated all of its strength and potential. We let them have the initiative in the second part of the first set and we lost self-confidence. Martin Stoev s team is the first to qualify for the Final Round (except Poland, hosting country). In Chengdu, too narrow corridors were left to the Chinese team by the World Championship bronze medal winners. Even tired after a 7 hours journey, Zhekov and his partners blocked 4 times their opponents in the first game, having a replay of 0 in the second one (both 0- matches). Even if China was really better, closing sets with, 4, and 7 points respectively. Those very scores we lost said Zhou Jianan, China s head coach shows the distance between our two teams. Coach Raul Lozano beat twice his home country Argentina. The young home team managed to win just one set on Saturday, and then on Sunday they lost 0-, not taking advantage of the bad attacking mood showed in some part of the match by Poland. WEEK 5 Brazil won Pool A one week early and got its ticket to the Final Round. Mister World Giba (he was the best player during the 006 World Championship) made his debut with points: together with Dante Amaral, he was the best scorer of the 0- marked against Canada. The second game in Mississauga (0,500 audience in two days) was another 0-. Finland reached its target, locking the second place in Pool A after beating twice Korea. In the first match in Yangsan, 7 Finnish blocks stopped all Korean aims (-). Korea was stronger in the second match: Moon Sung Min (best scorer with 5 points) was hard Sold out everywhere in Poland for the World League matches. Here Kadziewicz and Gruszka against China to control and only the -5 tie-break put the word the end to a very tough match. The U.S.A. defeated twice Japan -0: it completed an 8-0 sweep of Japan in World League action for the past two seasons. Gabe Gardner and Reid Priddy were again the leaders. Japan s Yu Koshikawa on the other side of the net was overcharged and played at its best, but the jump serves reception was not good enough. The weekend in Paris ended in a tie between France-Italy: -, -. An overheated audience of 9,90 welcomed the first Volleyball game played in the mythic Sports Hall of Paris Bercy in 4 years. The competitors rewarded the audience with a two hours match, and a long playing tie-break (7-9). The day after was really different: thanks to a cunning heavy serve and a much better presence of the middleblockers, France in front of 9,00 cheering fans managed to take its revenge in four sets. Serbia overtook Cuba in the standings of Pool C, thanks to a double 0- signed in Cairo, while Russia was doing the same in Kazan against Cuba. Russia conquered the Final Round losing just one match in Havana. But there wasn t any reply from Orlando Samuel s team during this Russian tour. It s true that many sets could be turned in favour of the Caribbeans, but Alekno s team always had perfect control over the last ball. While Alexander Korneev was on the court, his wife was giving birth to their daughter, something to celebrate together with a points match. Egypt still lacked of victories after 5 weekends, playing its first ever World League match under the supervision of an Egyptian coach (Ahmed Zakaria replaced the Polish Grzegorz Rys). Serbia needed 79 minutes to clinch for -0 its 007 World League fifth victory. A 7,700 audience in two days wasn t sufficient to pull Egypt and even the Sunday match had a Serbian signature. After weeks of leadership, Bulgaria lost the first place in Pool D. The two top matches saw the Bulgarian team losing its first matches (both - ) against Poland. Raul Lozano s team is the only unbeaten squad in the 007 World League together with Brazil. In front Mikko Esko and his Finland, a surprise from the northern Europe of more than 7,000 people (with the President of Bulgaria Mr. Georgi Parvanov in the VIP stand), Poland won the first match on Saturday. As for Martin Stoev, coach of Bulgaria, this match is a real test for the Poland and Bulgaria s level before the finals. In the second game, after many equalizers in the fourth set, the guest team managed to win again with Swiderski, Wlazly and Gruszka playing at their top. China celebrated for its first 007 World League wins obtained in Chengdu. Argentina improved its game after the first -0, but was stopped during the tie break after having reached points. China s Head Coach Zhou Jianan: It was an excellent match, both of two teams show their strength. What we lack of is our capacity adapting match tempo, which we have to improve through the World League. Standings - After week 5 Rk Country Points Matches Won Lost Pool A - Intercontinental Round Brazil 0 0 0 Finland 7 7 Korea 8 4 Canada 9 Pool B - Intercontinental Round U.S.A. 8 8 France 6 6 4 Italy 5 4 Japan 9 7 Pool C - Intercontinental Round Russia 9 9 Serbia 6 6 4 Cuba 5 5 5 4 Egypt 0 0 0 Pool D - Intercontinental Round Poland 0 0 0 Bulgaria 8 8 China 8 4 Argentina 0 0 0 The organizer (Poland), the winner of each pool, plus one wild card chosen by the FIVB, to go through to the Final Round in Katowice from -5 July 007. FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007

Beach Volleyball beach VOLLEYBALL men & women SWATCH FIVB World Tour 9 medals for Brazil, Europe claims its space June 6-0 - Women s Open Warsaw - Poland - Podium Finish Larissa - Juliana BRA Just before a downpour, Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca claimed their 5th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal. The Agrykola Prak centre court in Mysliwiecka was the main court where Juliana and Larissa s hard-hitting attack produced a -8 and -7 win in 46 minutes over fifth-seeded Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in the first All-Brazilian this season on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour. Juliana, who was named the SWATCH most outstanding player, and her 5-year old partner Larissa rebounded from an opening defeat Friday to Tamsin Barnett and Natalie Cook of Australia 4-, 5- and 6-4 to win their next five matches in the second annual GE Money Bank Warsaw Open to share the USD,000 first-place prize. This was also Juliana and Larissa s -straight win over Adriana and Shelda on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour after losing the first two matches to their Brazilian rivals in 004. In the bronze medal match, Chen Xue and Xi Zhang denied Brazil a podium sweep as the young Chinese posted a -8 and -4 victory over the third-seeded Talita and Renata in 9 minutes. June 6-0 - Men s Open Zagreb - Croatia - Podium Finish Kais Kr. - Vesik EST Adriana Behar - Shelda BRA Xue - Zhang Xi CHN Heuscher - Heyer SUI Barsouk-Kolodinsky RUS With a Brazilian men s team not participating in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour final four for the first-time in events, Beach Volleyball tandems from Estonia and Switzerland won semi-final matches in the USD 00,000 VIP Open on the Lake Jarun centre court, in Zagreb. Both the teams of seventh-seeded Patrick Heuscher/Sascha Heyer of Switzerland and 6th-seeded Kristjan Kais/Rivo Vesik of Estonia had to win their way to the finals of the fourth men s event on the 007 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar through the elimination bracket as both pairs dropped their opening matches to teams from Japan and Germany, respectively. While Kais and Vesik were competing in their 5st FIVB event together, the Swiss were play- ing only for the third-time on the SWATCH circuit. The Estonians, who were capturing their first-ever medal in an Open FIVB event, advanced to the finals with a - 9, 7- and 5- win in 60 minutes over fifth-seeded Dmitri Barsouk and Igor Kolodinsky of Russia, who won the bronze beating Austrian Schacht-Slack and even top-seeded Brazilian team of Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego in Round 4. June -6 - Women s Open Espinho - Portugal - Podium Finish Larissa - Juliana BRA Goller - Ludwig GER Renata - Talita BRA It was a great day for Brazilian Beach Volleyball on the Praia da Baia in Espinho as two women s tandems from the South American country captured medals in the USD 400,000 Open of Portugal to join three men s teams in earning podium spots. Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca joined rivals Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour podium for the first-time this season. Second-seeded Juliana and Larissa captured their 6th SWATCH title to share the USD,000 first-place prize: with their 7-, -6 and 5- win in 58 minutes over th-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany, Juliana and Larissa have now split USD 99,950 in SWATCH winnings since forming their partnership 4 FIVB events ago at the start of the 004 season. During this stretch, Juliana and Larissa have SWATCH medals with - straight «final four» finishes. In the bronze medal match, Talita and Renata out-lasted 8th-seeded Vasso Karadassiou and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece -5, 7- and 6-4 in 6 minutes. The Greeks earned A shot from Zagreb: the fury of Sascha Heyer with teammate Heuscher against Vesik from Estonia USD,000 for their first SWATCH semifinal appearance this season. June -7 - Men s Open Espinho - Portugal - Podium Finish Emanuel - Ricardo BRA Franco - Cunha BRA Fabio Luiz - Marcio Araujo BRA The FIVB SWATCH World Tour and the Tour Brazil put on a show for the Praia da Baia fans as the SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal was won by Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos. With their 8-, -7 and 9-7 win in 69 minutes over secondseeded Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto, the top-seeded Emanuel and Ricardo snapped their longest drought between gold medal finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since forming their partnership at the end of the 00 season, winning a record of 5 men s FIVB titles in 60 international Beach Volleyball starts together. Harley and Salgado where stopped in the bronze medal match by Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes (-6 and -6 in 4 minutes). Both Harley/Salgado (China) and Marcio Araujo/ Fabio (Italy) had won SWATCH gold medals earlier this season. Emanuel and Ricardo went on to win the Open of Portugal gold medal for the third time in the last five years (00 and 004) on the Praia 4 FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007

007 SWATCH FIVB World Tour da Baia. Emanuel and Ricardo each have five Open of Portugal titles with different partners. Emanuel, who was also named the SWATCH most outstanding player, claimed back-to-back Portuguese titles in 998 and 999 with Jose Loiola. Ricardo won the 000 Open of Portugal crown with Ze Marco de Melo before topping the podium against in 00 title Loiola. June 9-4 - Women s Grand Slam Paris - France - Podium Finish Walsh - May-Treanor USA Tian Jia - Wang CHN Wacholder - Turner USA me to defend behind her block. Obviously, we were pointing to this match since Jia and Jie eliminated us in Austria last year. They are a great team, but we put a lot of pressure on them with our game plan today. Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder claimed the bronze medal for the United States with a -7 and -6 win over the top-seeded Juliana and Larissa. June 0-4 - Men s Grand Slam Paris - France - Podium Finish Emanuel - Ricardo BRA Franco - Cunha BRA Lambert - Metzger USA 007 Men s Top Ten Teams on June 5 Code Points Emanuel - Ricardo BRA 900 Fabio Luiz - Marcio Araujo BRA 80 Barsouk - Kolodinsky RUS 40 4 Franco - Cunha BRA 00 5 Harley - Pedro BRA 00 6 Brink - Dieckmann Ch. GER 80 7 Heuscher - Heyer SUI 740 8 Kais Kr. - Vesik EST 580 9 Xu - Wu CHN 50 0 Herrera - Mesa ESP 500 007 Women s Top Ten Teams on June 5 Code Points Tian Jia - Wang CHN 060 Larissa - Juliana BRA 660 Renata - Talita BRA 40 4 Xue - Zhang Xi CHN 40 5 Barnett - Cook AUS 980 6 Leila - Ana Paula BRA 400 7 Karadassiou - Arvaniti GRE 80 8 Goller - Ludwig GER 40 9 Schwaiger - Schwaiger AUT 0 Brink-Abeler - Jurich GER 0 The podium in Espinho: Pedro, Franco, Emanuel, Ricardo, Fabio, Marcio Araujo and his Mirela with her favourite SWATCH gold medal near the Eiffel Tower for the first time in three attempts after finishing ninth and third in their first two Henkel Grand Chelems the past two years. This title was also FIVB gold medal No. 6 for the 00 SWATCH FIVB World champions along with Emanuel s 6nd and Ricardo s 4nd on the international circuit. It is great to play in front of one of the world s most famous sites, said the 4-year old Emanuel, who was winning his 08 Beach Volleyball title since 994. It is even more special to win in Paris before such a great site. Obviously, the Olympic and World Championships are the best, but this one ranks among the best ever on this tour. In the bronze medal match, 4th-seeded Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger of the United States posted a - and -7 win over sixth-seeded Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann of Germany to split USD,000 for third-place. The United States Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh followed their game plan to gain revenge and to regain the top of the podium in front of the Eiffel Tower to win the women s gold medal in the final match of the USD 600,000 Henkel Grand Chelem. With their -5 and - win in 4 minutes over third-seeded Jia Tian and Jie Wang, the second-seeded May-Treanor and Walsh avenged an elimination setback to the Chinese in the Austrian Grand Slam last August for the American s lowest international finish since a 99 ninth. In addition, May-Treanor and Walsh regained the Henkel Grand Chelem title after losing the 006 gold medal match on the Champ de Mars to Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil in three sets. A year earlier on May-Treanor s 7th birthday, the Americans defeated Juliana and Larissa in the inaugural Henkel Grand Chelem finale. We were better prepared for this match, said May-Treanor, who was winning her 5th SWATCH title with Walsh and 8th FIVB crown overall. Kerri did a great job at the net that allowed The magnificent site in Paris also hosted the USD 600,000 Henkel Grand Chelem title for Men, with a standing ovation for the reigning Olympic champions Emanuel and Ricardo s gold medal. The world s No. -ranked Beach Volleyball team defeated Brazilian rivals Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto before an over-flowing crowd of 7,000 on the Champ de Mars center court. In securing the USD 4,500 firstplace prize with a 9-, -7 and 5- win in 7 minutes over the third-seeded Cunha and Franco, the second-seeded Emanuel and Ricardo captured the first of five major stops on the 007 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar. In addition, the Brazilians were winning a Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh: just in time for Gstaad FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007 5

Confederations volleyball men & women AVC Board of Administration decides to step up developing Volleyball The Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Board of Administration meeting held in June in Kuala Lumpur took many decisions to develop Volleyball and Beach Volleyball in Asia. The AVC Board of Administration last meeting The meeting reviewed the progress in the sport in the past year, especially: l More and more AVC members actively participated in the AVC events, the Board especially noted that the Women s National team from Iran will take part in the 007 Asian Senior Women s Championship for the first time, which shows the popularization of Volleyball in Asia. l Asian Volleyball made great progress, especially in the AVC Western Zone, where the sport is developing faster and faster. l Beach Volleyball in Asia got more and more attention from AVC members. the meeting and declared AVC s strong solidarity with the FIVB and support of all AVC members for FIVB President, Rubén Acosta. Mr. Wei stressed that the AVC is always putting FIVB missions as priority, and taking immediate measures in order to fulfil them. The President said that the meeting would concentrate on how to develop Volleyball and how to draw more teams to participate in AVC events. A new competition format called Asian Cup for Men and Asian Cup for Women will be held every two years: the top eight teams will participate in the Asian Cup. The Board suggested remodelling the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in order to promote Beach Volleyball and encourage more countries to participate in the Championship. The AVC President stated: We have a great potential in developing Beach Volleyball. The AVC must put priority on more participation and not on the prize money. The meeting also requested the FIVB to give more support to the AVC Beach Volleyball circuits. The three FIVB development centres in Asia are playing a great role in helping Asia raise the technical and management level: they will have more financial and material support and Indonesia will have a new one next year. QuickSets Giba, a Brazilian fan Waiting to step up in the 007 World League, Mister World Giba, MVP in the World Championship 006, was one of the,000 Brazilian fans in Belo Horizonte and he was doing the ola among the,000 in Sao Paulo. I d never been present at a Brazilian game before. I always stayed in the court and never saw the show. At Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte I could see everything. It s a wonderful show. The fans love us. After the 007 World League and the summer, Giba will join Iskra Odintsovo, moving to Russia together with his wife Cristina Pirv, former captain of Romania, and their daughter Nicoll, born in 004 just after the Olympic tie-break Brazil- Italy. A Beach Volleyball national tournament in Gabon The meeting also pointed out that Volleyball in Asia is still not developing fast enough and that one of the most immediate and urgent tasks that the AVC is facing is to raise the level of Asian Volleyball. AVC President Wei Jizhong addressed All Contributions Welcome! Please send your comments and articles by e-mail to: press@fivb.org or by mail / fax to: Fédération Internationale de Volleyball Avenue de la Gare CH-00 Lausanne - Switzerland Tel : +4 () 45 5 5 Fax: +4 () 45 5 45 The AVC will propose to the upcoming AVC general Assembly to create a Medical Commission for carrying doping tests for AVC events, composed by three members (Thailand, Eastern Zone and Western Zone). In order to give equal chances to the teams participating in the Asian Senior Men s and Women s Volleyball Championships, the meeting decided to change the final round, which will be played on a round robin system instead of a cross match system. The meeting asked the AVC Development and Marketing Committee to concentrate its work on helping members from category one and two, and also to encourage the AVC National Federations to avail the aid program from the Volleyball Cooperation Programme, which is part of the FIVB Volleyball World Vision 0. The new Board of the Gabon National Federation has recently introduced Beach Volleyball in its activities. Thanks to the sponsor, Red Bull, the tournament registered 4 men s team, 0 veterans team and women s team. At the same time, youngsters come every Sunday to learn Beach Volleyball. Two Volleyball legends on the beach Two Volleyball legends, Cuban Mireya Luis and Brazilian Jackie Silva, played Beach Volleyball together on a beach east of Havana to promote this sport among young people. The match was part of a social program, Initiative Building the Future, supported by the Brazilian Sports Ministry and the Cuban Institute 6 FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007

News volleyball men & women British Volleyball Federation has announced an exciting collaboration with the Dutch Volleyball team Martinus of Sports. Luis, one of the greatest female Cuban Volleyball stars of the last 0 years member of the Olympic Champion team in Barcelona 99, Atlanta 996 and Sydney 000 is currently chief of marketing for the Cuban Volleyball Federation. Silva won the Beach Volleyball Olympic title in Atlanta 996 together with Sandra Pires, the first time that this sport was in the Olympics. Maurizia Cacciatori retires Maurizia Cacciatori, the famous Italian setter awarded by the FIVB as Best Setter after the 998 World Championships in Japan, has planned to retire. During her career, she also had experiences as a model and TV show performer, and played Beach Volleyball, too. In 007, she played for Spanish Club Icaro in Palma de Mallorca, being promoted from second to first Spanish division. She s now been offered a position as sport director of the team. And now it s also time to plan: a baby Cacciatori and a new team for Palma says Maurizia. Andrea Zorro Zorzi representing the FIVB for IOC The FIVB has chosen Andrea Zorro Zorzi as its representative at the rd International Athletes Forum that will take place in Dubai, on 7th and 8th October. (follow on page 8) The partnership will see players in the GB men s squad playing 8 League games in the Dutch Pro A League under the name of Martinus for the season 007-08. The players will be based in Amstelveen from October through to April and training daily under the direction of GB Head Coach Harry Brokking. With the London 0 Olympic and Paralympic Games just five years away the British Volleyball Federation has put in place elite development programmes for its indoor, beach and sitting disciplines through the support of UK Sport. The Dutch Federation (NEVOBO) has accepted this move and British Volleyball Chairman, Richard Callicott, welcomes their support. We are delighted for the support from the Dutch Federation and, of course Martinus in this development. This opportunity will provide an integral boost to our London 0 preparations... To have the support of a club with the status and history of Martinus is a huge boost to the men s team. volleyball men & women Mammadova, Wlazly and Muculescu honoured in Vienna During the European Volleyball Gala in Vienna, where the drawing of lots for the eighth edition of the Indesit European Champions League took place, Natalya Mammadova and Mariusz Wlazly were honoured as Best Scorers of the 006/07 IECL League Round, and Stelian Moculescu received the award for Best Coach. Stelian Moculescu, 57-year-old Romanian known as Stelu, who coaches the German men s national team since 999 as well as the German club VfB Friedrichshafen, managed to lead his team to their first Champions League victory during the Final Four in Moscow in 007. The German Champion and Cup Winner has left Europe s top club competition twice as second ranked (996 and 000) and once as bronze medallist (999). Natalya Mammadova scored 60 points during the six Sara Symington, Performance Programme Consultant for UK Sport said: It is great to see British Volleyball taking an innovative approach to the development of the men s squad. Moving the players to Holland will provide a great opportunity to accelerate the squad s development in the coming months as they take another significant step towards London 0. We d like to congratulate them for spotting the opportunity and Club Martinus for helping to make it happen. Harry Brokking, Head GB Coach said: This exciting partnership will allow players to build on their training together and work as a team regularly in a highly competitive environment, essential for the development of the squad at this stage. The team started a daily centre based programme based EIS Sheffield in June this year and will be based out of the venue until the move to Amstelveen in October. They will then return to Sheffield in May 008 to continue their preparations for a summer of International fixtures. Martinus already have experience in working alongside the developments of National Programmes as the Dutch Women s team plays under the name of Dela Martinus. matches of the Champions League 006/07 League Round, finishing on top of the Best Scorer list. The Azerbaijan was also Best Scorer of the League Round 005/06 (85 points in ten matches played) and 004/05 (96 points in ten matches played). Best Scorer in the Men s Indesit European Champions League 006/07 was Pole Mariusz Wlazly from BOT Skra Belchatow, booking points during the ten pool matches. The President of the Polish Volleyball Federation Mr. Miroslaw Przedpelski was present to receive the award. Peter Kleinmann, Natalya Mammadova, CEV President André Meyer, Stelian Moculescu and Miroslaw Przedpelski FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007 7

Calendars QuickSets Zorzi says Dr. Rubén Acosta H., President of the FIVB is an excellent representative for our sport and the interests of Volleyball and Beach Volleyball players. Zorzi, one of the most famous Volleyball spikers, left the Italian team in 996, stopping his career in the clubs in 998, when he began to work as a journalist and TV commentator. Tang Miao injured The 5 year-old Chinese player Tang Miao suffered a terrible injury in St. Petersburg during a training session. The Technical Courses and Seminars Calendar - July-August 007 DATES COURSE PLACE SPONSOR July -5 Technical Seminar Players Venezuela FIVB July - Coaches Level I Maldive Islands FIVB July 5-6 Coaches Level I Tunisia FIVB July - Coaches Level I Iran FIVB July 6-0 Volleyball Information System Thailand, Kingdom of FIVB July 6-7 Coaches Level I Somalia FIVB July 5-Aug. 6 Coaches Level II Tunisia FIVB July 8-Aug. 8 Coaches Level I Virgin Islands FIVB August - Coaches Level I Sudan FIVB August 6-0 Technical Seminar Young Players Venezuela FIVB August 7- Beach Refereeing IRCC Liechstenstein FIVB August 8- Coaches Level II Barbados FIVB August 9-7 Beach Refereeing IRCC China FIVB August -9 Refereeing IRCC Poland FIVB August 8- Technical Seminar Defense India FIVB August 8-9 Coaches Level I Bahrain FIVB August 8-0 Coaches Level II Malaysia FIVB August 9-0 Coaches Level I Dominica FIVB August 9-0 Coaches Level I Nicaragua FIVB Volleyball Cooperation Programme Calendar - July-August 007 DATES COURSE PLACE July -6 Young Players Lebanon July 4-9 Refereeing Bhutan July 6- Beach Volleyball Mozambique July -8 Coaches Solomon Islands July 6- Teachers Paraguay July 6- Beach Volleyball Vanuatu July 0-Aug. 4 Teachers Togo July 0- Aug. 4 Teachers Seychelles August -6 Refereeing Congo August 6- Beach Volleyball Côte d Ivoire August 6- Teachers Rwanda August 6- Beach Volleyball St. Kitts August 0-7 Coaches Congo Democratic Republic August -9 Coaches Botswana August 4- Coaches Cameroon 007 Global Calendar - Competitions and Events - Volleyball and Beach Volleyball DATES EVENT COUNTRY CONF. M/W spiker, one of the best Chinese players, also included in the 8 s selection for the 007 World League, was in Russia with his club team to play a friendly match when he seriously injured his neck. Tang Miao is the husband of Zhou Suhong, the captain of the women s national team. Top Philippine player killed The Volleyball family is in mourning after Ronie Borlagdatan, the yearold star of the Philippines national team, was shot dead together with two friends on 4th June by unknown robbers. He was a graduating Criminology student at the De La Salle University, in Dasmariñas. June 6-July 6 Boris Yeltsin Cup Russia CEV June 0-July 5 VIII. International Baltic Cup for Juniors and Youth 007 Pobierowo (POL) CEV July 4-8 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Open Montréal, Canada FIVB M/W July 5-8 NESTEA European Championship Tour Swiss Masters Lucerne, Switzerland CEV July 6-8 CAZOVA Beach Volleyball Tour Trinidad & Tobago NORCECA M/W July 7-8 European League Final Four Portugal CEV July 7-5 Men s Junior Volleyball World Championship Casablanca/Rabat, Morocco FIVB M July 4-4 U-0 Caribbean Championship (CAZOVA) US Virgin Islands NORCECA M/W July 4-4 U- Caribbean Championship (CAZOVA) US Virgin Islands NORCECA M July 9-5 U- Central American Championship Costa Rica NORCECA M July 0-4 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam Berlin, Germany FIVB W July -5 World League Finals Katowice, Poland FIVB M July -5 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam Berlin, Germany FIVB M July -5 SWATCH FIVB Youth World Championships Myslowice, Poland FIVB M/W July 4-9 XV Pan-American Sport Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil NORCECA M/W July 6-0 NORCECA Mini Volleyball Championships Colima, Mexico NORCECA M/W July 7- SWATCH FIVB World Tour Open Marseille, France FIVB W July 7- Pan-American Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil NORCECA W July 8- European U8 Beach Volleyball Championships Brno, Czech Republic CEV July 8- SWATCH FIVB World Tour Open Marseille, France FIVB M July 0-7 Women s Junior U0 World Championship Suphanburi, Thailand FIVB W July -8 European Youth Olympic Festival Belgrade, Serbia CEV July -8 Pan-American Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil NORCECA M July 4-9 SWATCH FIVB World Championships Gstaad, Switzerland FIVB M/W July -Aug. Youth Girls Volleyball World Championship Baja California, Mexico FIVB W July- August African Volleyball Gala TBC CAVB M/W World Volley News Official Bulletin of the FIVB Av. de la Gare CH-00 Lausanne Printed in Switzerland FIVB founded in 947 Pres. Dr. Rubén Acosta H. Tel. + 4 45 5 5 Fax + 4 45 5 45 Web Site: www.fivb.org E-mail: press@fivb.org Editor: Communication Department No. 7 July 007 8 FIVB World Volley News No.7 July 007