The Cuban women won three consecutive Olympic gold medals (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000), and even collected a bronze medal at Athens 2004, but China will make every effort to hold on to their Olympic title when the two traditionally strong teams meet on day three of the Women's Volleyball tournament at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on August 13.
The two teams have four points apiece at present, but China leads pool A with a 1.365 ratio.
World No. 2 Italy, who finished third at this year's FIVB World Grand Prix and qualified for the Olympics by claiming gold at the 2007 World Cup, will be battling Algeria in pool B at 10:00 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8) in the first match of the day.
Venezuela and Poland will compete with the United States and Japan, respectively. The US team, who ranks No. 4 in the world and finished fourth at the 2008 FIVB World Grand Prix, now sits in fourth place in pool A with three points. Japan sits in third place with three points and Venezuela sits last with two points.
Japan and Venezuela lost their respective first matches, but since Japan took a straight-sets victory over Venezuela, Venezuela might have some difficulty making the quarterfinals.
In pool B, traditional powerhouse Russia will meet Kazakhstan, and World No. 1 Brazil will meet Serbia, who finished second in the 2007 European Championships. Brazil leads pool B with four points, and Serbia follows just behind. Coming off a seventh FIVB World Grand Prix title, Brazil is in prime position to claim their first Olympic gold.
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