France finished the second week with two achievements - staying unbeaten and qualifying for the World League Finals in Curitiba
Lausanne, Switzerland, June 13, 2017 – FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° congratulated France for their unbeaten run in this year's edition of the FIVB Volleyball World League as audiences around the world were treated to another thrilling week of tournament action.
“The FIVB World League presents an opportunity to come together and celebrate some of the world’s best national men’s teams, and Week 2 was no different,” President Graça said. “The high intensity competition continued as France remained the only unbeaten team across all groups winning six matches to secure 18 points. Slovenia and Germany also lead their respective groups with 15 points each.”
France were in outstanding form, dropping only four sets in their last six matches. The second week of competition gave them a chance to shine in front of their home fans in Pau, and they rose to that challenge and swept all their matches against tough opponents Russia, Italy and the United States. They were rewarded with the first qualification ticket to the Final Six in Curitiba.
Meanwhile, Slovenia and Germany also held their ground and took the top spots in Groups 2 and 3 respectively. Slovenia suffered their first loss against Japan in Takasaki, but held on to their first place ranking in Group 2. Germany, on the other hand, ensured their place in the final four in Gold Coast, Australia, after winning top spot in Group 3 ahead of Spain.
The second week of competition served up a lot of highs as teams and players stepped up their game to earn victory.
“Week 2 witnessed 9,524 points scored across all three groups and 3,294 in Group 1 alone,” President Graça pointed out. “This included the highest scoring match of the week which came on June 11 when Italy and Russia totalled 231 points, 31 of those won by the match’s top scorer, Giulio Sabbi from Italy. The highest scoring set came from Group 3 as Qatar beat Venezuela 45-43.”
Excitement reached fans in the nine cities which hosted a total of 56 intense matches in the second week of the World League.
“My thanks and congratulations go to Bulgaria, Iran, France, Finland, Japan, Czech Republic, Estonia, Tunisia and Austria, which were all fantastic hosts for the World League Week 2 matches.”
The Group 1 and 2 competitions will resume on June 15 until June 19, while the Group 3 Finals will start on June 17 in Leon, Mexico, where Germany, Spain, Estonia and hosts Mexico will clash to decide the 2017 Group 3 champions.
President Graça thanked each confederation and national federation for its support in the World League.
“The FIVB is delighted by the support and commitment of each confederation and national federation in staging each event at the highest level, as well as further efforts to develop volleyball worldwide.
“Together we are making excellent progress towards achieving our vision of being the world’s number one family sport.”