July 1st UPCOMING FINAL ROUND LIVE LINKS: Click the match to watch. Match Time in US PST.

12:30AM: Click HERE to WATCH Cuba vs Thailand

4:30AM: Click HERE to WATCH China vs USA

Turkey 1-3 Brazil

June 30th Results:

Turkey 3-1 China
Brazil 3-0 Thailand
USA 3-0 Cuba

June 29th Results:

USA 3-1 Turkey
Thailand 3-2 China
Brazil 3-0 Cuba

Tip: To avoid the ads, watch it in Full Screen

If the link doesn’t work, click HERE to follow the live score.

FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round

June 28th Results + Stats

FIVB Images

June 28th FIVB Press Quotes

Thailand coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai: I also agreed with my player. I want to thank the US team, they are one of the best teams in the world and they showed high spirit and high level on court today. We learned a lot for our young players and we need this for our future.

Turkey coach Motta Marco Aurelio: In my opinion, today we played a good game, we served very well. Cuba is a strong team, they played good in the first set, but after that they lost concentration on court. I know Cuba can be in better level. I am happy we played in very good level. Yesterday we won but not played a good match, but today, we won and played a good match.

Brazil coach Jose R. Guimaraes: I am very happy about the team. I feel my team played relaxed, we had good attacks and good performance. This is a good experience for us on court. How fluent the players play is very important for us, I hope to maintain that for the futu

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June 27th Results + Stats

FIVB Images

June 27th FIVB Press Quotes

Turkey coach Motta Marco Aurelio: I think both teams played not good today, we can play a better match. I am upset about our performance, we have only two players play at their normal level. This is our first game in the finals, we need to play better, we need our best performance for the finals. I hope we could play with more attention tomorrow.

USA coach Hugh McCutcheon: In the first two sets we played well, we tried to play the plan. The third set is very different, Brazil is a strong team and responded very well in the third and fourth set. The fifth set was a battle, we sent couple of players on court. It is a good start for us in this tournament.

China coach Yu Juemin: This is our first match in the Grand Prix finals. Some of the Chinese players, especially our captain Wei, suffered from injury, which cause us much trouble on court. We are good at receiving, on the basis of these, our middle-players had very good performance today.

Final Round Videos

June 28th

Brazil vs China

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USA vs Thailand

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

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June 27th

China vs Cuba

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Brazil vs USA

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Turkey vs Thailand

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

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FIVB Press Quotes

Turkey coach Motta Marco Aurelio: I think both teams played not good today, we can play a better match. I am upset about our performance, we have only two players play at their normal level. This is our first game in the finals, we need to play better, we need our best performance for the finals. I hope we could play with more attention tomorrow.

USA coach Hugh McCutcheon: In the first two sets we played well, we tried to play the plan. The third set is very different, Brazil is a strong team and responded very well in the third and fourth set. The fifth set was a battle, we sent couple of players on court. It is a good start for us in this tournament.

China coach Yu Juemin: This is our first match in the Grand Prix finals. Some of the Chinese players, especially our captain Wei, suffered from injury, which cause us much trouble on court. We are good at receiving, on the basis of these, our middle-players had very good performance today.

FIVB World Grand Prix Preliminary Round

Per FIVB:

World Grand Prix Marks 20 Wonderful Years: The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix will celebrate its 20th edition when the world’s premier annual women’s tournament takes place from June 8 to July 1 in 2012. A total of 16 teams will again take centre stage across three weeks of top-class volleyball action. With each week featuring four pools in four cities, millions of volleyball fans will be able to watch the world’s best players compete for a place in the Finals.

USA successfully defended their title in 2011, becoming the second team to win back-to-back titles (Brazil 2008-2009). Can they join Brazil (2004-2006) and become the second team to complete a hat-trick of titles this time around?

And with the competition set to take place just a month before the London 2012 Olympic Games, teams will be more desperate than ever to prove their form.

The 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix Posters:

Pools, Schedule & Results:

Pool A – Macau, China

CHN, PUR, THA, ARG

June 8: Thailand vs Argentina
June 8: China vs Puerto Rico

June 9: Puerto Rico vs. Thailand
June 9: Argentina vs. China

June 10: Argentina vs. Puerto Rico
June 10: China vs. Thailand

Pool B – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

DOM, USA, BRA, TPE

June 8: USA vs Germany
June 8: Dominican Republic vs. Chinese Taipei

June 9: USA vs. Algeria or Chinese Taipei
June 9: Germany vs. Dominican Republic

June 10: Germany vs. Chinese Taipei
June 10: USA vs. Dominican Republic

Pool C – Busan, Korea

KOR, JPN, CUB, TUR

June 8: Japan vs Turkey
June 8: Cuba vs Korea

June 9: Korea vs. Turkey
June 9: Japan vs. Cuba

June 10: Korea vs. Japan
June 10: Cuba vs. Turkey

Pool D – Lodz, Poland

POL, GER, SRB, ITA

June 8: Italy vs Brazil
June 8: Poland vs Serbia

June 9: Serbia vs. Brazil
June 9: Poland vs. Italy

June 10: Italy vs. Serbia
June 10: Poland vs. Brazil

Pool E – Sao Paulo, Brazil

BRA, DOM, ITA, USA

June 15: USA vs. Italy
June 15: Brazil vs. Germany

June 16: USA vs. Germany
June 16: Brazil vs. Italy

June 17: USA vs. Brazil
June 17: Germany vs. Italy

Pool F – Komaki, Japan

JPN, GER, THA, PUR

June 15: Thailand vs. Puerto Rico
June 15: Japan vs. Dominican Republic

June 16: Dominican Republic vs. Thailand
June 16: Japan vs. Puerto Rico

June 17: Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico
June 17: Japan vs. Thailand

Pool G – Foshan, China

CHN, POL, KOR, TPE

June 15: Korea vs. Poland
June 15: China vs. Chinese Taipei

June 16: Poland vs. Algeria or Chinese Taipei
June 16: China vs. Korea .

June 17: Korea vs. Chinese Taipei
June 17: China vs. Poland

Pool H – Belgrade, Serbia

SRB, CUB, TUR, ARG

June 15: Serbia vs. Argentina
June 15: Cuba vs. Turkey

June 16: Cuba vs. Serbia
June 16: Turkey vs. Argentina

June 17: Serbia vs. Turkey
June 17: Argentina vs. Cuba

Pool I – Osaka, Japan

JPN, POL, KOR, TUR

June 22: Korea vs. Turkey
June 22: Japan vs. Germany

June 23: Germany 3-0 Korea (25-10, 25-14, 25-20)
June 23: Turkey 3-1 Japan (23-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-17)

June 24: Germany 3-1 Turkey (24-26, 25-17, 25-18, 25-15)
June 24: Japan 3-0 Korea (25-22, 25-20, 27-25)

Pool J – Bangkok, Thailand

THA, USA, SRB, TPE

June 22: USA vs. Serbia
June 22: Thailand vs. Argentina

June 23: USA 3-0 Argentina (25-23, 25-17, 25-12)
June 23: Thailand 3-1 Serbia (12-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-21)

June 24: Serbia 3-0 Argentina (25-16, 25-22, 26-24)
June 24: USA 3-0 Thailand (25-16, 25-17, 25-7)

Pool K – Luohe, China

CHN, BRA, CUB, PUR

June 22: Cuba vs. Brazil
June 22: China vs. Puerto Rico

June 23: China 3-2 Cuba (22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 15-9)
June 23: Brazil 3-0 Puerto Rico (25-17, 25-12, 25-19)

June 24: Cuba 3-0 Puerto Rico (25-17, 25-17, 25-21)
June 24: Brazil 3-0 China (25-20, 25-22, 25-19)

Pool L – Taipei, Chinese Taipei

GER, ARG, DOM, ITA

June 22: Italy vs. Dominican Republic
June 22: Poland vs. Chinese Taipei

June 23: Italy 3-0 Chinese Taipei (25-10, 25-13, 25-17)
June 23: Poland 3-0 Dominican Republic (25-16, 25-19, 25-14)

June 24: Dominican Republic 3-1 Chinese Taipei (25-18, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22)
June 24: Italy 3-2 Poland (23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-13)

FIVB Images:

Videos:

USA vs Thailand

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Argentina vs USA

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Serbia vs USA

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Thailand vs Serbia

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

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China vs Brazil

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

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Italia vs Poland Set 5

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Puerto Rico vs Brazil

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Brazil vs Cuba

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Germany vs Italia

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USA vs Brazil

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Italia vs Brazil

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Brazil vs Germany

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Italia vs USA

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Serbia vs Turkey Set 4

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Argentina vs Serbia

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Turkey vs Argentina

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Cuba vs Serbia

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Thailand vs Japan

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Dominican Republic vs Thailand

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Puerto Rico vs Thailand

Week 1 Videos:

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USA vs Dominican Republic Set 4:

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Germany vs Dominican Republic:

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Poland vs Brazil:

Part 1:

Part 2:

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Serbia vs Brazil:

Set 1:

Set 2:

Set 3:

Sets 4 & 5:

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Brazil vs Italia:

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Serbia vs Italia:

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Poland vs Serbia:

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Argentina vs China:

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Thailand vs China:

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China vs Puerto Rico:

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Thailand vs Argentina:

Set 1:

Set 2:

Set 3:

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Puerto Rico vs Thailand:

Set 1:

Set 2:

Set 3:

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Korea vs Japan:

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Cuba vs Japan:

NEWS:

December 22nd: Did we miss something here?

Report has it that the FIVB has unexpectedly updated Brazil’s preliminary round matches. Source says the Brazilian Federation doesn’t want their women’s team to play against teams from North America so the FIVB has granted their request.

We repeat: It’s just a rumor!

Originally, Brazil was supposed to play against the Dominican Republic (host) and USA plus Kenya/ Taipei in Week 1 but Germany replaced them so now the defending Olympic Champs will play in Poland against the host, Italy and Serbia.

For Week 2, Germany replaced Dominican Republic and will now play against host Brazil, Italy and USA. The Dominicans will now travel to Japan with the host, Thailand and Puerto Rico.

The changes in the final week of the Preliminary Round includes Germany replacing Poland to play against Japan (host), Korea and Turkey. While Poland heads to Kazakhstan with Argentina, Dominican Rep and Italy.

If you’re a little confused with our post a much as we are (Hahahah!), then here’ the final pool schedule of the Preliminary Round:

We’re not sure about the last minute changes, but it sounds very fishy interesting.

THOUGHTS?

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If the Dominican Republic can HOST one round, why can’t USA do it? Sad.

Round 1: June 6th – 10th, 2012

Macau: CHN, PUR, THA, ARG
Dominican Rep.: DOM, USA, BRA, KEN/TPE
Korea.: KOR, JPN, CUB, TUR
Poland: POL, GER, SRB, ITA

Round 2: June 15th – 17th, 2012

Brazil: BRA, DOM, ITA, USA
Japan: JPN, GER, THA, PUR
Taipei: CHN, POL, KOR, KEN/TPE
Serbia: SRB, CUB, TUR, ARG

Round 3: June 22nd – 24th, 2012

Japan: JPN, POL, KOR, TUR
Taipei: THA, USA, SRB, KEN/TPE
China: CHN, BRA, CUB, PUR
Kazachstan: GER, ARG, DOM, ITA

Final Round: June 27th – July 1st, 2012 in Ningbo, China
China + The Top 5 Ranked Teams.

Please do remember that the FIVB has not officially released nor confirmed that pool schedule but we are 99% that this is really really it. On the other hand, we have a feeling that whoever wins the 2012 World Grand Prix will win a medal at the 2012 Olympics which takes place a couple of months after.

THOUGHTS?

(images: FIVB)