The sensational individual plays and standout team performances have set the bar high for how exciting the first few days of the Men’s Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament were, and it is about to reach its climax as teams try to clinch the top two spots in the pool competitions in Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Xi’an.
Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Men’s OQT: Above the line
The chase is on for the six men’s Olympic volleyball quotas
Published 08:16, 04 Oct 2023
- Watch all the matches of the Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament on VBTV
Above and below the line of the pool rankings table:
There are only two spots available in each pool, so only the top two teams will punch their tickets to Paris. Currently, Italy and Germany are on top of Pool A, USA and Slovenia are the Pool B leaders, and European sides Poland and Belgium have the best records in Pool C.
Third and fourth ranked teams are Cuba and Brazil in Pool A, Serbia and Japan in Pool B, and Argentina and Canada below the line in Pool C.
Hosts’ performances in their group:
Brazil won both matches but are in fourth place after dropping a point in their five-set encounter against Czechia, and their 3-1 loss to Germany.
Japan played two tough tiebreakers against Finland and Egypt, respectively, dropping their match to the latter, but recovered on their third match to stay in fourth place.
China faced two European teams – Bulgaria and Belgium – and registered their first win against Mexico.
Individual performances vs Team victories
Do outstanding individual performances have an impact on their team’s win?
Simone Giannelli’s playmaking and Alessandro Michieletto’s scoring performances have helped Italy to win their first three matches, while Flavio Gualberto’s exemplary net defense is not enough to put Brazil on top in Pool A.
Torey Defalco’s contributions from the attack and service lines have supported the United States offence, putting his team on top of Pool B. Ran Takahashi has taken over Yuji Nishida’s spot as Japan’s top scorer after three matches.
The young outside hitter has shown some fancy moves in the tournament and has helped his team bounce back with a straight-set win after getting split results in their first two matches in tie-break. However, the Japanese team have to pick up more momentum to get out of fourth place.
In Pool C, Poland and Belgium are having a good run so far, courtesy of prolific performances of Lukas Kaczmarek, Sam Deroo and Ferre Reggers. Kaczmarek is leading the charge in scoring for the 2023 VNL champions, while Deroo and Reggers are the one-two-punch for the Belgian side.
Who’s in and who’s out?
The next few days will be crucial for all teams, as they battle it out to be the first six qualified teams that will join France at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Watch it all live on VBTV!
