The 2016 FIVB Volleyball Grand Prix finals are now ongoing in Bangkok, the pool matches started last night, Wednesday July 6 and continue until tomorrow, Friday July 8. Semi-finals will be played on Saturday and the finals will be on Sunday.
The teams involved in the finals are host country Thailand plus the top 5 teams from the preliminary pool competition, these are USA, China, Russia, Brazil and the Netherlands.
For the finals, the teams are initially split into two groups of 3 (Pools J and K). USA, China and the Netherlands are in Pool J. Russia, Brazil and Thailand are in Pool K.
The Pool matches played last night were USA to Netherlands (Pool J) and Thailand against Brazil.USA won their match against Netherlands 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-23 while in the later match Brazil after a close first set, overpowered Thailand winning 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-11).
Tonight’s matches are China vs Netherlands and Russia vs Thailand. The final pool matches tomorrow, Friday July 8, are USA vs China and Brazil vs Russia.
From previous performances, unless there is an upset, these last 4 teams should be the 4 teams to contest the semi-finals on Saturday and the Pool results will decide which teams will meet which in the Semi-finals. The winner of Pool J will play 2nd in Pool K; while 1st in Pool K will play 2nd in Pool J. Winners of the Semi-finals will play off for the Championship title while the semi-final looser will play meet to decide 3rd and 4th place.
Further information at http://www.fivb.com/
