Yehey for Japan! They surpassed China and now ranked 3rd together with Italy. Piccinini must be having nightmares after finding this out! Kidding! Netherlands dropped 1 spot which sucks. Right now European countries are ranked so close to each other that when the Olympic Qualification begins it’s hard to guess the teams who will represent Europe in London 2012.
Brazil might not care about their world ranking points since they’d be number #1 for quite a while but it’s a big deal for teams in Europe because the FIVB uses the point system to determine the teams who will be invited to play in the Olympic Qualification Tournament. The OQT (May 2012) is the last tourney for teams to qualify for the Olympics after the World Cup (Top 3 Teams) which is next year and then the Continental Qualification (Top 3 plus best ranked Asian Team) which takes place in late 2011 and early 2012. We’ll explain more when the qualification process starts…
Europe has so many talented teams! No wonder the FIVB increased the 2011 Grand Prix from 12 to 16 to cater their needs.
To Read the FULL FIVB Article, click HERE!