|
Volleyball: S. Korea through to 2nd round at women's world c'ship
2006-11-05
Kyodo) _ South Korea became the fourth and final team in Pool A to earn a spot in the second round of the women's volleyball world championship, beating winless Kenya 25-13, 25-13, 25-12 on Sunday. Han Song Yi scored a match-high 20 points and Hwang Youn Joo added 15 to help South Korea finish the first round with a 2-3 record and join Taiwan, Japan and Poland in the tournament's next phase beginning Wednesday. "We couldn't have our best lineup in today's match, but my players did a good job," said South Korea head coach Kim Myeong Soo, whose injury-depleted team had to wait until after their final match of the first round before going through. "Overall, it wasn't a good first round for us," Kim said. The result marked the end of a disappointing campaign for Kenya's Japanese head coach Sadatoshi Sugawara. "It's difficult for Kenya to perform strongly in international events for the moment and we need to develop young talent and see them replace veterans for the team's future," said Sugawara, a member of the bronze medal-winning team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Earlier, Taiwan swept Costa Rica 25-10, 25-18, 25-12 to keep its perfect record intact and complete their first-round campaign as a surprise Pool A winner. Costa Rica dropped to 1-4 and was eliminated. Elsewhere, Germany (4-1) beat Athens Olympics champion China (3-2) 20-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-23 in Pool B. Tournament favorite Brazil (5-0) overwhelmed Cameroon (0-5) 25-13, 25-14, 25-8 in Pool C. Serbia and Montenegro (5-0) defeated Turkey (2-3) 27-25, 25-22, 25-15 in Pool D. The top four in each of four six-team groups advance to the second round.
| 
