Brazil, Russia show off might

Brazil found some occasions to display their samba kind of game before trouncing Japan in straight sets in the opening game of the Manila leg of the World Grand Prix 2002 yesterday, duplicating its demolition of Japan in Tokyo five days ago at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Brazilians walloped the Japanese, 25-18, 25-23, 27-25, in a virtual repeat of their 26-24, 25-20, 27-25 victory over the same rival in the first leg in Tokyo, keeping their clean slate entering the halfway mark of the preliminaries of the volley spectacle which features the eight best teams in the world.

With a sweep of their assignments in Tokyo coupled with their winning debut in Manila, the three-time Grand Prix champions are two wins away of a slot in the final round set in Hong Kong Aug. 1-4.

Russia stayed in equal footing with Brazil as it thrashed Germany, 25-16, 26-24, 25-15, in the second game of the Grand Prix Manila stop presented by Pagcor and sponsored by San Mig Light, Agfa Film, Red Bull Energy Drink, PCSO, the Philippine Sports Commission and Adidas.

Brazil, the Grand Prix titlist in 1994, 1996 and 1998, and Russia, champion in 1997 and 1999, seek to move in the threshold of the finals as they switch opponents today.

"We have to play a different defensive strategy against Germany because they are taller. I expect another tough match as what we got in our first meeting," said Brazilian coach Marco Motta.

Japan fell deeper in the lower half of the chart as it suffered a third straight loss following a 25-14, 25-18, 25-13 thrashing of Thailand at home turf.

The Japanese unveiled a new player in Tanaka Shinako in their rematch with the Brazilians. Shinako did an impact but not enough to cause a revenge for Japan.

"It was the first time we played Tanaka and she affected our defensive formation. She was aggressive," said Motta.

With Shinako shoring up the offensive frontline of Japan, Brazil encountered rough sailing in all three sets but found a way to pull through each time, completing another straight-set win in 72 minutes.

Welissa Gonzaga, Luciana Nascimento and Valeska Menezes delivered the bulk of the points for the Brazilians on their towering presence at the net, making fierce attacks and frustrating many a Japanese incursion with solid blocking strategy.

And what gave Brazil a big edge was a much-deeper bench. Coach Mota rotated 12 players with practically all of them making their presence felt in the game.

While Gonzaga, Nascimento and Menezes did the damage in the first and second sets, Karin Rodriguez, Cecilia Souza and Marcelle Rodriguez took over in the third set to complete the job.

But Japan didn’t go down without a good fight.

The Japanese sent their own crowd up on their feet in the second set when they raced to a 15-10 lead before engaging the Brazilians in furious rallies, posting leads of 18-14, 19-16, 20-17 and 21-18.

But the Brazilians just wouldn’t allow the Japanese to bounce back from an 18-25 loss in the first set. The power-spiking Gonzaga delivered four straight points coming off the bench as Brazil came from behind to win the second set at 25-23.

The Japanese, behind Chikako Kumamae, Makiko Horai and Miyuki Takahashi, made another surge in the third set only to go short of their bid again.

Takahashi even served for the set at 24-23 but sent her serve long.

Then down 25-26, the Japanese eventually yielded the match with Kumamae spiking wide.