Portugal continued their fairytale run in the FIVB World Championships to qualify for the Round of 16. The Western European country reached the Round of 16 alongside Slovenia to join already qualified Poland, Türkiye, Canada, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and USA.
The remaining eight slots will be decided today when the last eight pool play matches will be played across the two venues–the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The top two teams in each pool qualify for the Round of 16 which will start on Saturday as the competition continues in single elimination format to determine who will eventually be crowned world champion.
Portugal, who are making a return to the World Championship after 23 years, began their Pool D campaign with a shock 3-1 win over Cuba last Saturday before losing to USA in straight sets on Monday. They bounced back to victory on Wednesday after coming from behind to edge out Colombia 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-11) at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
USA’s 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 27-25) win over Cuba later in the day all but confirmed Portugal’s place in the Round of 16 as the Americans finished top of Pool D with 9 points drawn from three wins. Portugal settled second with 5 points from a 2-1 win-loss ratio to proceed to the elimination round.
Slovenia bounced back from their 3-2 loss to Bulgaria on Monday to defeat a battling Germany 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 31-29, 25-22) and secure second spot in Pool E and a place in the Round of 16. Fabio Soli’s team finished second in the group with 7 points from a 2-1 win-loss ratio.
Slovenia’s rise can be traced back to 2019 when they joined the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme. Since then, Slovenia have received CHF 1.278 million in support through Volleyball Empowerment. The investment has funded long-term coaching projects, athlete development initiatives and performance environment improvements.
The top spot in Pool E went to Bulgaria who ended the pool play unbeaten after overcoming Chile in straight sets (25-17, 25-12, 25-12) to take their tally to 8 points.
Türkiye continued their giant-slaying exploits after cruising past Canada in straight sets (25-21, 25-16, 27-25) to finish top of Pool G unbeaten and with maximum 9 points.
Both teams had already qualified for the Round of 16 having won two matches apiece but Canada settled second with six points following Wednesday’s loss.
Japan, who were the top seeds in Pool G, ended the tournament with a comfortable 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-12) win over African team Libya who were making a return to the World Championship after 43 years.
It was a similar consolation for Qatar who registered their first ever win at a World Championship after beating Romania 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22) to wind up third in Pool B with 3 points from a 1-2 win-loss ratio.
The Pool B top seeds and FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland lived up to the billing to finish top of the group after overcoming Netherlands by 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22). The Dutch had already qualified for the Round of 16 after their earlier wins against Qatar and Romania.
