Italy sweeps Venezuela at Olympic men's volleyball
14/8/2008 17:49
Athens Olympics silver winner Italy swept Venezuela 3-0 in Beijing today
at the men's volleyball preliminaries of the Beijing Games.
The Italians,
runners-up to Brazil at the 2003 World Cup and the 2004 Athens Games, brushed
aside Venezuela 25-21, 25-20 and 25-21 to improve to a 2-1 win-loss record in
pool A.
Captain Alberto Cisolla had 12 smashes in 19 tries to finish with
game-high 13 points for Italy with Vigor Bovolenta and Matteo Martino adding 10
apiece.
"We played very well throughout the game. We were very concentrated,
especially in our services," said Cisolla. "We put a lot of pressure on our
opponents. Our good performance guaranteed our success today."
The South
Americans, who are making their first appearance at the Olympic Games, have lost
three matches in a row in the round robin stage with two more matches to play
against Japan and Bulgaria.
"We want to defeat Japan more than Bulgaria. We
will prepare as best as we can and put all our effort into winning the match
with Japan," said Luis Diaz, who scored nine points for Venezuela. "It will be
more difficult to defeat Bulgaria."
At the post-match press conference,
Venezuela head coach Ricardo Navajas revealed he would step down after the
Olympic tournament.
"I will leave the team, regardless of the outcome of the
Olympic Games," Navajas said. "I have been dealing with a very complicated
administration (in Venezuela)."
"Coaching this team has been a good
experience, and coaching at the Olympics as well. I don't have a problem with
Venezuela," he added. "The problem is, well, you know what the problem is. I
don't want to continue."
Later today, in a pool B clash, Germany rolled past
a fighting Egypt 29-27, 25-21 and 25-21 for its first victory at the Beijing
Games while dropping the Africans to 0-3.
Xinhua
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