Maganews, Sport

Fonte – Fivb

Volleyball

Brazil Men’s World Champions for third time in a row

Rome, Italy, October 10, 2010 – Brazil became the FIVB men’s worldchampion for a record-equaling third successive time after proving too good for a young and talented Cuba team, beating the world No. 8 in straight sets 25-22, 25-14, 25-22 in front of a sold out PalaLottomatica in Rome on Sunday.   Brazil backed up their titles in 2002 and 2006 with victory in the final against a Cuban side who, despite their obvious talent, couldn’t overcome a Brazilian outfit which was top of their game. Whatever Cuba tried, Brazil had an answer for it in what was the first final in an FIVB event featuring the two nations. The win was Brazil’s eighth in the past nine matches and 27th in 49 encounters between the two countries.

       Brazilian’s Giba, Dante and Rodrigo joined the Italian elite of Andrea Gardini (current Italian men’s assistant coach), Marco Bracci (current Italian women’s assistant coach), Ferdinando De Georgi and Andrea Giani as three-time champions (1990, 1994, 1998).

Both Brazil – FIVB World League, Grand Champions Cup and World Cup holders- and Cuba completed the FIVB Men’s World Championship with seven victories and two defeats, which included a 3-2 (34-32, 18-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12) win by Cuba over Brazil in the first round.

         

Cuba, the youngest team in the competition, have now won two silver and two bronze World Championship medals to increase their overall medal tally to 22. Brazil have a World Championship record of three gold medals and one silver medal to increase their overall medal tally to 32, behind Russia (43) and ahead of Italy (27).

Earlier, World No. 4 Serbia finished off a superb FIVB Men’s World Championship campaign by beating hosts and world No. 5 Italy 3-1 (25-21, 25-20,26-28, 25-19) for the bronze medal. The win represents Serbia’s second World Championship medal after winning silver in 1998 and their 28th win in 49 matches against the “Azzurri”. Italy missed the chance to add to their impressive World Championship medal collection a silver in 1978.

Quotes

Rodrigão - “I am ecstatic to have won this third gold medal in a World Championship. We played an exciting final without ever allowing Cuba to gain momentum. This is a great result for me and all ofBrazil, but now our next goal is the Olympics in London. This an incredible joy for me once again.”

Dante - “Our team is capable of resolving difficult situations and this is probably one of the secrets of our success.

Giba – “We played united as a team and as a family and that’s the reason for our victory. This World Championship means a lot to me since is the last one, so the celebrations will stay with me for a lifetime. We need to work hard for next year’s World Cup and also for the Olympic Games, the highest event for any athlete.”

Coach Bernardinho - “We have played a great match against a great squad. I am very happy about how our team reacted and the strong performance from Visotto. Cuba’s young team had to play against very strong opponents and we also had to control some emotions. We have had some problems during the tournament but we finished playing a good match. This is an incredible group, capable of bettering itself with hard work and practice. With this victory we are now tied with Italythat has also collected three world titles, and who in the past have been our role model. I think the key is that we only focus on the next tournament as the most important one no matter the previous victories. With that in mind they have reasons to keep working harder. I don’t keep track of the numbers.”