Athens Olympic bronze medalists Russia whipped African champions Egypt in Fukuoka yesterday to remain undefeated with seven straight wins in the men's World Cup volleyball tournament.
The Russians powered their way to a 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 victory.
"We try to win keeping our energy as much as possible, and win a game without losing any sets, so I'm very happy we could do both," said Russian coach Vladimir Alekno after the 62-minute match.
PHOTO: AFP
"Although I'm confident of our attacks, it's not easy to keep winning games like this. There were some difficult moments for us and this will help us prepare for the crucial matches coming up," he said.
Russia play Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, world champions Brazil and the US in the last four days of the 12-team round robin competition, in which the top three finishers qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics.
Egyptian coach Ahmed Zakaria said his players were "still young and without experience."
Earlier in the day in Fukuoka, Spain downed Argentina 26-24, 25-22, 25-18.
In Okayama, Bulgaria outgunned Australia 25-17, 25-19, 25-13, while the US breezed past South Korea 25-18, 25-15, 25-18.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also