Memorable start as World Cup begins with plenty of drama

Hiroshima, Japan, November 4, 2011 – Argentina, China, Germany, Italy, Serbia and USA were all victorious on a momentous opening day at the FIVB Volleyball World Cup 2011 held in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagano on Friday.

Defending champions Italy celebrated their captain Eleonora Lo Bianco’s 500th match in style with an impressive 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-18, 25-15) win over hosts Japan. The win was their 16th in 25 matches against Japan and reversed their recent straights sets defeat in the World Grand Prix Finals. The loss of key spiker Serena Ortolani on Thursday seemed to have little effect as Carolina del Pilar Costagrande with 18 points and Antonella Del Core with 17 were too quick, powerful and intuitive for a flat Japan side.

"It's a very good sensation and I try to honour this "500 times" that I played with this uniform," Lo Bianco said. "It's an honour for me."

Meanwhile, in Nagano, World Grand Prix champions and world No. 2 USA beat world No. 1 Brazil 3-1 (25- 22, 17-25, 27-25, 25-19). In a repeat of the Olympic Games final, USA veteran Danielle Scott-Arruda picked up the Most Impressive Player award after scoring 10 points in the final two sets but it was regular scoring machines Destinee Hooker and Foluke Akinradewo who led the way with 17 and 15 points respectively. Brazil’s top scorers were Fernanda Rodrigues and Sheilla Castro with 18 each. USA earned six service points to Brazil’s none and out blocked their opponents 9-5.

Earlier in the day, China and Argentina got off to excellent starts in Hiroshima, winning their clashes with Algeria, who are making their first appearance at the World Cup, and the Dominican Republic in superb style.

China saw off Algeria in straight sets (25-13, 25-14, 25-19) in a match which saw the three time champions completely dominant. Having won the World Cup in 2003, China didn’t participate in 2007 due to the fact they had already qualified as host of the 2008 Olympic games. They started this qualifying event for the 2012 Olympic Games in fine form.

World No 20 Argentina pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind victory 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22) against the Dominican Republic, ranked 14th in the world. The Dominicans, who had seen libero Brenda Castillo sent home for disciplinary reasons on Thursday, started strongly taking the opening set but a resilient Argentina came back to claim their second successive victory in FIVB competition against the Central Americans in the first World Cup match to feature three female referees (two official and one reserve) in FIVB history.

In Nagano, Serbia and Germany were equally impressive against Korea and Kenya respectively.

Serbia lost the talismanic Sanja Malagurski to injury in the second set but this didn’t stop them completing a 3-0 (27-25, 25-22, 25-22) win over Korea who once again relied on the impressive Kim Keon-Young who collected 20 points.

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