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Post by doctordubya on May 24, 2004 4:09:07 GMT -5
No real surprises in the Portugal qualifer, where Poland overcame the hosts, Venezuela and Kazakhstan to qualify for Athens. The Poland/Portugal matchup was always likely to be the key, and Poland prevailed 15-12 in the tiebreak after a close battle.
In the Japan qualifier, first round matches saw Canada sweep Iran (for Canada, Duerden 15, Martin 16; Winters 9); France sweep Australia (a closer match than expected, with two games going to overtime, Van Beest of BYU fame led AUS with 16); and Japan sweep Algeria. Shock of the round was China blanking Korea.
Round two started with an even bigger shock as Iran also swept Korea. France beat Canada in three (Duerden 14; Martin 14; Winters 9). Australia swept Algeria (Dan Howard led AUS with 13). In the match of the round, China edged Japan 18-16 in the tiebreak despite 39 points from Japan's big gun Yamamoto.
Based on world rankings, Korea's defeats are major surprises. China's win over Japan gives them the edge for the Asian qualifying spot, but if both can beat France then they could seal both slots.
Canada and Australia probably need to win all their remaining games and hope that France slip up if they are to qualify.
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Post by doctordubya on May 25, 2004 10:27:40 GMT -5
In round three matches today, Canada beat Algeria 3-0, China beat Iran 3-1, France beat Korea 3-0, and Australia squeaked past Japan 3-2.
Korea are already virtually out of contention for the Asian qualifying slot. That position is now China's to lose - if they can equal Japan's showing against France, Canada and Australia then they will go to Athens.
Canada and Australia have to keep winning and hope that France loses to China or Japan if either of them are to secure the other qualifying slot. The Canada v Australia match-up is tomorrow, and the loser of that game will effectively be out of the running.
It could be said that Canada have a slight edge tomorrow, for two reasons:
-coach Stelio DeRocco was coach of Australia before joining team Canada
-Canada ran their bench in their easy match with Algeria today in order to rest their starters (Duerden didn't play at all), whereas Australia needed their best six on all game to get past Japan
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Post by doctordubya on May 26, 2004 3:27:26 GMT -5
Results so far - France beat China 3-0, Korea get on the board with a 3-0 win over Algeria, and Australia beat Canada 3-0 (Van Beest led AUS with 14, Winters led CAN with 10 points in two sets). Japan should roll over Iran in the final match.
The loss to Australia virtually puts Canada out of contention for Olympic qualification - they are now behind both Australia and France in standings.
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Post by vballguy2001 on May 28, 2004 22:43:41 GMT -5
VanBeest is a BYU guy yeah?
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Post by benwhipdrofn on May 28, 2004 22:56:11 GMT -5
played for BYU in 1998...I think he was from Amsterdam?  |
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Post by vballguy2001 on May 28, 2004 23:45:27 GMT -5
quite aparent he is from australia.
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Post by benwhipdrofn on May 29, 2004 0:03:09 GMT -5
sorry, my bad....I misread it and after I reread...yep...down under.....it's been a long week....only 3 days of school left  ) |
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Post by doctordubya on Jun 1, 2004 3:52:42 GMT -5
France and Australia qualify for Athens.
It all looked to be over after the penultimate round - France were assured of qualification, and Australia swept nearest rivals China to improve their standing to 5-1 (China fell to 4-2).
In the final round, however, Australia were swept by Iran (another shock result confirming Iran as a genuinely decent side). China thus entered their final match v Canada needing to win 3-0 and hold Canada to no more than 44 points in total in order to qualify for Athens. They won 3-0, but couldn't quite manage the necessary scores - allowing 58 points, they missed out on points ratio.
The Spanish qualifier went very much as expected; Netherlands will be going to Athens. The key match was always likely to be Netherlands v Cuba, and this took place in round 2. Netherlands won in four sets to book their place.
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