German Men’s Team and Japanese Women’s Team First to Qualify for Quarterfinals

German Mens Team first to qualify for Quarterfinals:

Germany, host country, convincing took their fourth victory 3-0. The Germans are now ensured a place in the Quarterfinals. Portugal, Serbia and Singapore will be competing for the second and third place in Group B.

However, it is surely Group D of the Men’s Championship Division that offered the most suspense today. The end result is that four teams have five points each; they have had two wins and one defeat to their names. Earlier, Belarus had beaten the Slovak Republic but on the first day of play had lost to Japan. Similarly, after beating Belarus, Japan had suffered defeat against Poland, who in their opening fixture had lost to Croatia. The top three teams will progress to compete for places one to 12, while the three lower teams will have to play for places 13 to 24. Tomorrow, the fight will undoubtedly be very tough as teams compete in their last 2 group matches.

In Group A, China, which had not conceded a set since the beginning of the competition, has yet again won 3-0 against Sweden, who put up a good fight. Jorgen Persson took a set from Olympic champion Ma Lin and Robert Svensson led 1-0 to the world champion, Zhang Jike. Hong Kong also has three wins and Greece tonight is in the best position to reach the final draw.

Korea Republic and Austria are also in the running for the final draw, as they are still undefeated after three matches. As Denmark already has three losses and is behind the other teams, it is Hungary, France and Taipei that will compete for 3rd place tomorrow on Wednesday.

Japanese Women’s Team first to qualify for Quarterfinals:

The German women’s team suffered its first defeat in Group C: Japan easily won 3-0 and has now qualified for the Quarterfinals. After their success against Serbia, Spain has hopes to win the 3rd place. Korea Republic, unbeaten since Sunday, occupies the first place in Group D. Group A is dominated by China and Romania, who both remain undefeated since Sunday. These two opposing teams will be in a deciding duel for first place tomorrow morning. For Group B, this is exactly the same situation with Singapore and the Netherlands, who both won all their three games. On Wednesday at 10:00am, the teams will face each other. Photo by: Remy Gros

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