
The women’s competition will see two pools of six teams play in a round robin format. Matches will be staged at different venues including Tokyo and Matsumoto from August 22-27, Sendai and Okayama from August 30 to September 1 and Nagoya and Komaki from September 4-6. The same principles will apply to the men’s competition, which will be played in Hiroshima and Hamamatsu from September 8-13, Osaka and Toyama from September 16-18, and Tokyo (Yoyogi and Metropolitan) from September 21-23.
After the match, Russia coach Vladimir Alekno commented: “My congratulations to Poland for their qualification for the Olympics. They got what they came here for. I am the happiest person on earth today because it is my 45th birthday. I have to thank my team for the efforts in this tournament”.
The last ten editions of the men's competition, dating back to 1977, have been held in Japan. The inaugural edition of the competition in 1965 was hosted by Warsaw in Poland, while the second edition took place in East Berlin, in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Russia and its predecessor the Soviet Union have won the competition a total of six times. Brazil won the competition in 2003 and 2007, while Italy, Cuba, USA and GDR have each claimed one title.
Italy won the gold medals in the 2011 edition of the women’s competition, ahead of USA who claimed silver and China bronze. “I am really happy because we have won this very important competition two times in a row,” Italy coach Massimo Barbolini said. “Returning to win after four years is really something that makes me very proud. This is a very difficult tournament and after winning 10 games, we deserved the victory. I’m really proud of my team.”
The last two editions of the Women’s World Cup have been won by Italy. Cuba won a record four titles between 1989 and 1999. China are on three titles, while Japan won the first edition of the competition to be held in their country and the Soviet Union won the inaugural edition of the competition in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1973.
Related information:
FIVB Volleyball World Cup – Men
FIVB Volleyball World Cup – Women