Month: July 2020

WGP – “Canarinhos” still on top

Posted on by HelenAtAmarIt

After yesterday magnificent performance Brazilians keep their high level. Today they beat tournament’s host, Japan also 3-0.

 

JAPAN – BRAZIL 0-3 (21-25 22-25 17-25)
Line-ups and scores:
Japan: Miyashita (7), Kimura (10), Iwasaka (4), Shinnabe (8), Ebata (11), Otake (4), Zayasu (L) and Ishida, Nagaoka (5), Hirai, Hashimoto
Brazil: Dani Lins (3), Fe Garay (15), Thaisa (14), Monique (1), Gabriela (19), Fabiana (4), Fabi (L) and Sheilla (6), Michelle, Claudia

 

Japan got off to a slow start and fell behind 4-1 on a block by Gabriela Guimaraes and a spike by the same player. Risa Shinnabe then breathed life into the Japanese attack with a strong kill and a service ace while captain Saori Kimura also delivered two valuable points with a kill and a perfectly placed soft shot. A block by Nana Iwasaka on young Brazilian star Guimaraes put Japan a point ahead at the first technical timeout and they moved three points ahead at 14-11, when Brazil coach Ze Roberto called a timeout. Japan maintained its advantage to the second TTO but the scores were level at 20 when Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe called his first timeout. Neither side was dominating but Brazil looked the stronger team, especially after they brought in Sheilla Castro. But it was the big-hitting Guimaraes who did the damage with successive smashes that put Brazil two points up at 23-21. A missed shot by Ebata gave Brazil setpoint and a Fernanda Rodrigues kill put Brazil 1-0 up.
 
Two clever shots and a block by Riho Otake gave Japan the advantage at the start of the second set and a fake set by setter Haruka Miyashita put Japan five points in front at 10-5. When a Miyashita service ace stretched the lead to 12-6, Brazil called a timeout. Brazil won eight of the next 10 points and drew level at 14-14 after another blow from Guimaraes, prompting a Japanese timeout. At 16-16, an excellent block by Miyashita on Guimaraes and a hefty spike from Yukiko Ebata prompted a Brazil timeout but the teams were level again at 18. Two Japan errors at 21-21 handed the advantage to Brazil and Thaisa Menezes earned setpoint with a big hit down the middle. A mixup on the Japan side of the net put Brazil 2-0 up. 
 
The introduction of Miyu Nagaoka boosted Japan’s attack in the third set and they recovered from 1-5 – with Guimaraes again at the forefront of Brazil’s attack – to level at 7-7. Nagaoka smashed two strong drives through the Brazil defence and blocked Sheilla. Iwasaka came up with a huge block on Rodrigues and Miyashita followed with two service aces to put Japan 10-9 ahead. But Japan had few answers for the attacking power of Guimaraes and Rodrigues and Brazil were leading by three at the second TTO. They stretched that to five points at 20-15 when Thaisa made a huge block on Nagaoka and there was no way back for Japan after that. Successive blocks by Thaisa and Rodrigues brought setpoint at 24-17 and Thaisa sent a shot down the middle to finish the match.
 
Team Stats:
ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeDigReceptionSets noteUnforced ErrorsJapan3532%773253%8.3319Brazil4650%1512140%924
Team Leaders:
Actions/PlayersPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced ErrorsYukiko Ebata111134%6006Gabriela Guimaraes191653%4308
 
World Grand Prix Finals Stanging
 

RankTeamWin/LossSetsPoints1.Brazil2/06-062.China2/06-353.Japan1/13-334.Serbia0/14-435.Italy0/22-616.USA0/21-60


Description: FIVB

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EuroVolley: Poland – Sokolov 2-3! Bulgaria is through

Posted on by HelenAtAmarIt

A lot of volleyball fans received the news on Sunday evening about another forthcoming Poland vs. Bulgaria clash with timid hearts. The schedule of the 2013 CEV VELUX European Championship made the two giants pit their strength against each other quite early in the tournament. Despite a frenzied atmosphere in “Ergo Arena” in Gdansk, the co-hosts of the event failed to provide massive celebration for their supporters and surrendered to Tsvetan Sokolov and his teammates after a nerve-racking fifth-set marathon.

Poland – Bulgaria 2-3 (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 24-26, 16-18)

Poland: Zygadlo, Winiarski 16, Nowakowski 9, Bociek 26, Kurek 18, Mozdzonek 11, Zatorski – libero, Wisniewski, Drzyzga 2, Kubiak 4, Ruciak
Bulgaria: G. Bratoev 1, Skrimov 13, Yosifov 3, Sokolov 35, Aleksiev 14, Nikolov 6, Salparov – libero, Milushev, Todorov 5, Penchev

Volleycountry should probably set a new trend and open a separate section only for the Poland vs. Bulgaria matches. It’s been already quite common (in fact, they have played against each other in every major tournament since 2009) for these two teams to rival. These matches are often full of drama, world class volleyball and the show is brought even further thanks to their amazing fans. Unfortunately for neutral fans, one of these teams had to leave the Euro much earlier than planned and just like at the 2010 World Championship in Italy, where these two met in the “group of death” alongside Brazil, it was Poland that has been left short of success.

In what might easily turn out to be Andrea Anastasi‘s last game as a head coach of the Polish national team, he had a tough decision selecting his starters. The two main problems – the setter and the opposite, have caused Poland some trouble already on the weekend. Lukas Zygadlo is not really impressive in his role as a playmaker. He sometimes seems just too predictable and unwilling to take some risks in his setting. The young talented Fabian Drzyzga enjoyed some court time already and has shown great qualities to be the new Polish setter. The controversial opposite Zbigniew Bartman, one of Anastasi’s favourites otherwise, has been left out of the 14-men roster and now Jakub Jarosz and the newcomer Grzegorz Bociek, the main point scorer of the 2013 World Universiade silver Polish team, are taking turns in stepping up up front. Although Bociek’s performance against Slovakia was not really super impressionable, he and the experienced Zygadlo were chosen to lead “druzyna Polska” against the fourth from the London Olympics on the way to Copenhagen.

Camilo Placci and his staff were very calm the days before the match in Gdansk, knowing that the injured Todor Skrimov would be back and kicking in time. Bulgaria is one of the most easily predictable teams in terms of starting lineups. With Teodor Todorov still not fully into the championship, Placci could place Viktor Yosifov and the recovered prior to the championship Nikolay Nikolov in the middle.

Much to the home supporters’ joy, Poland were off to a better start thanks to Grzegorz Bociek and Michal Winiarski. The Polish team remained more focused in front of the audience in Gdansk and took a deserved 2-0 lead ahead of a napping Bulgaria. On the edge of finding themselves in airplane seats travelling back to Sofia the next day, the “lions” showed a different face as of set three till the very last points.

It was a heavy and nervous night already for Bulgarian and Polish fans when a cannon serve by the star Tsvetan Sokolov gave Bulgaria a chance to a break point at 25-24 in set four and eventually sent the game to a decider. A heart-broken Bartosz Kurek was laying on the ground minutes afterwards as he stepped on the opponents’ side of the court while the ball was still in play at 16-17. His fault gave a quarterfinal berth to Bulgaria.

Both teams deserved a place in the next round as they left everything they had on the court tonight. It was a luckier night, however, for the jumping around Bulgarians who will now have the chance to take revenge from Germany for the preliminary tie-break defeat on Saturday.

The Italian head coach Andrea Anastasi shared at the press conference: “I have to congratulate Bulgaria for they always fight in every match they play. It was a very tough game, packed with emotions. I am, of course, disappointed with the final result, but my players did their best to win tonight. I think that Tsvetan Sokolov did make the difference for Bulgaria and right now he is one of the best players in the world”.

Team stats:

ActionSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeRec. pos.Rec. exc.ErrorsPoland7655%9170%16%36Bulgaria6252%11458%6%24

Team leaders:

ActionPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced errorsGrzegorz Bociek262465%3208Tsvetan Sokolov353057%53211

 

Pictures: CEV

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VIDEO:TOP 25 Best Volleyball Actions

Posted on by HelenAtAmarIt

If you came to this article, this means that you are a volleyball lover. We don’t know you love the game and for sure there are many reasons to do.  Just think of all the amazing rallies the sport gives us, of the emotions, of all the interesting competitions and tournaments… 🙂

It is almost impossible to count down the number of the reasons why we love volleyball. And to be fair, there are many actions that impressed us a lot through the years but in the video below you can see TOP 25 of The BEST Volleyball Actions.

Enjoy it! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYj0P_eNM-M

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Cirque Du Soleil Slashes 3,500 Jobs, Moves Toward Bankruptcy

Posted on by HelenAtAmarIt

MONTREAL — Cirque du Soleil, whose aerobatic shows have been halted by COVID-19, has filed for creditor protection while it develops a plan to restart its business.

The company says it will seek court protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act at a hearing Tuesday at Quebec Superior Court.

Cirque du Soleil also announced the termination of approximately 3,480 employees previously furloughed in March.

“We know, because of the proposal on the table, that the Cirque is saved,” CEO Daniel Lamarre said in a phone interview. “I am sure that at the end of the process, which should culminate in mid-September, I will have an owner.”

However, he said he regrets the end of the employment relationship of thousands of employees with the company, which has US$900 million in debt.

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In connection with the filing, Cirque du Soleil says it has entered into a “stalking horse” purchase agreement with its existing shareholders.

The Texan fund TPG Capital (with a 60 per cent stake), the Chinese firm Fosun (20 per cent) and the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (20 per cent) will inject US$100 million, while Investissement Quebec will provide a US$200-million loan.

Two funds totalling US$20 million will also be set up to support Cirque workers and pay freelancers who are still waiting.

It says the sponsors’ bid includes an intent to rehire a substantial majority of the terminated employees, business conditions allowing, when its operations can resume.

The company added that given that its resident shows in Las Vegas and Orlando are expected to resume before the rest of the its shows, the artists and show staff of the resident shows division are not affected. 

Lamarre said there are “five to six groups” interested in acquiring the Montreal-based company, but they will have to meet the conditions of the offer currently on the table, which requires Montreal to remain the company headquarters.

“Everyone was waiting for us to take shelter from our creditors,” said Lamarre, who added he doesn’t believe the company waited too long before filing for creditor protection.

In exchange for debt restructuring, creditors will receive unsecured debt of US$50 million in addition to owning 45 per cent of the Cirque, which will decrease the current shareholders’ stakes. TPG would hold 33 per cent, while Fosun and the Caisse will each have 11 per cent.

Cirque said its shareholders’ offer was the “only fully documented and firm” offer received.

With US$300 million, the company will be able to weather the current storm until it can start generating revenue again, likely as soon as its permanent shows in Las Vegas and Orlando can resume.

For the 12-month period ended last September, Cirque would have generated revenues of approximately US$950 million, the rating agency Moody’s calculated in a report published last March. Its profits were estimated at US$155 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2020.

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