VTAM news

Volleyball Team Australia (Australian Men's Volleyball Team) v Japan Men'sVolleyball Team 2008 Olympic Qualification Tournament, in Tokyo, Japan 6-6-08 (tour match 18)

Result: VTA lost to Japan 0 : 3 (22-25, 26-28, 27-29)

In front of more than 10,000 energetic fans, vocally supportive of theirNational Team, Volleyball Team Australia lost in three close sets to theirJapanese hosts; to all-but finish Australia's chances of qualifying for the2008 Beijing Olympics. Australia actually out-attacked their Japanesecounterparts, but was well behind on serve and block, making too many errorsagainst their 12th ranked opponents.

Australia now plays Algeria on Saturday with their very slim hopes ofOlympic qualification resting on the result of this match, together with theresults from other matches.

Volleyball Team Australia (Australian Men's Volleyball Team) v Algeria Men'sVolleyball Team 2008 Olympic Qualification Tournament, in Tokyo, Japan 7-6-08 (tour match 19) Result: VTA defeated Algeria 0 : 3 (25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20)

In what was a major psychological achievement, after the hype anddisappointment of the Japan match, less than 24 hours earlier, VolleyballTeam Australia came out and defeated Algeria, in Tokyo this afternoon, aspart of the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament for Beijing. Algeria isthe second strongest team in the African zone and they had defeated Korea earlier in the week.