(24 July 1996; Day 05)
The medal round qualifiers are beginning to step forward at the halfway point of pool play in the Olympic Games women's volleyball competition.
The People's Republic of China and Brazil are the leaders in pool A and pool B respectively and each is a mild surprise. China finished seventh at the 1992 Olympic Games and eighth at the World Championships in 1994, but has shown dramatic improvement thus far. China has already defeated the two teams that were expected to provide the biggest challenges in Korea and the United States. Although Brazil was considered a strong medal favorite prior to the competition, Cuba was expected to be the stronger team in Group B. The Brazilians already own victories over both Cuba and the Russian Federation. But all is not well with Brazil as it will have to finish the competition without one of its top players in Hilma CALDEIRA who suffered a broken foot in the victory over Cuba.
The other teams in Group A that appear to be headed to the medal round are the United States (2-1) and Korea (2-1). The fourth, and final, qualifier from pool A will be decided between the Netherlands (1-2) and Japan (1-2). The Netherlands defeated Japan in the head-to-head meeting but still must face Korea. Japan will have a much more difficult road still having to meet the United States and China.
The four qualifiers in Group B are virtually decided at this point in the competition. Both Russia (2-1) and Germany (2-1) should join Brazil (3-0) and Cuba (2-1) in the medal round. Canada (0-3) and Peru (0-3) would each have to win all of their remaining matches in order to advance.
The eight remaining teams after group play will then meet in the semifinals. The top teams from each group will play the fourth seeded teams from the other pool, while the second seeded team from each group will face the third seeded team from the opposing pool.
The quarterfinals will begin on 31 July in the Omni Coliseum.
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Roger McAfee.
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