BBC News Online.
Thursday, 28 September, 2000, 15:17 GMT 16:17 UK
Cuba are just one win away from a unique Olympic gold medal hat-trick after
reaching the final of the women's volleyball.
The defending champions were twice a set down but finally claimed a dramatic
27-29, 25-19, 21-25, 25-19 victory over a battling Brazilian side after 1 hours
44 minutes.
Cuba now play the world's number two seeds Russia in Saturday's final, who
had an unexpectedly tough time against the United States, winning 25-15, 23-25,
25-15, 26-28, 15-8.
Cuba have collected the World championship, World Cup and Grand Prix titles
in addition to their two Olympic successes over the past decade and appeared to
have lost their Olympic crown when they trailed 16-9 in the second set after
conceding the first.
Capitalise
Brazil failed to capitalise, and after being so much in control, they
suddenly disintegrated as Cuba scored nine consecutive points.
The experience of team captain Regla Bell McKenzie, Ana Fernandez and Regla
Torres helped greatly as the Cubans burst into life and took the set with five
points to spare.
The Brazilians bounced back bravely in the third set, with the hard-hitting
left-hander Leila Barros and Ana Fernandez showing the destructive power they
produced in the first.
Brazil opened up a four-point cushion to lead 20-16 and managed to hold on.
The fourth set was an incredibly tight affair until two superb kills from
Torres saw the Cubans forge ahead 15-12 and from there on the champions went
from strength to strength.
Torres was top scorer with 22 points.
"This game could have been for a gold medal," Cuba's head coach
Louis Calderon said.
Looking ahead to the final, he added: "We know the quality of the
Russian team and have to maintain our level of confidence."
Brazilian coach Bernardo Rezende could not hide his hurt at coming so close.
"It was an enormous disappointment to yet again not reach the final.
Torres and Fernandez shook us up and made the game go their way."
Russia triumph
Russia allowed the Americans back into the game after establishing long
leads and should have won in at least four sets.
Russia's Elena Godina and Evguenia Artamanova were the main force behind
their victory scoring 28 and 26 points respectively.
The US's reply in the hitting department came mainly through Danielle Scott
(21) and Logan Tom (15).
Russia raced to claim the first but struggled in the second to lose it
25-23.
They found their form in the third to take a 2-1 lead but the Americans
saved two match points before finally claiming the fourth to level the match.
The tie-breaker was evenly balanced at 7-7 when the Russians piled on the
pressure and the Americans cracked, winning only one more point.
"Although I am disappointed, we played really well and we will regroup
for the bronze medal match against Brazil," the American coach Mike Hayley
said.
Russian coach Nikolai Karpol said: "We did not play at our best and we
should have won in four sets. But the important thing is that we got to the
final."
In the women's classification rounds, China beat Germany 3-1 and Croatia
beat South Korea 3-1. In the men's, Netherlands beat Australia 3-0 and Brazil
beat Cuba 3-2. | 