Denfending champions Italy downed by Serbia-Montenegro

Defending champion Italy was upset by Serbia and Montenegro 1-3 in Nagoya of Japan in the women's world volleyball championship on Tuesday, the opening day of the championship.

Serbia-Montenegro, making its first appearance in the tournament in 28 years, posted a 25-18, 25-22, 19-25, 27-25 win over the Italians.

Massimo Barbolini, who has only been appointed as the new head coach since September, was depressed by his teams early defeat in the tournament.

"Serbia took advantage of their height on blocks and were technically better than we were today," Barbolini said. "We couldn' t find our rhythm in the first two sets, but after that it was 50 to 50. Altogether the Serbian team played very well."

Elisa Togut and Francesca Piccinini each scored 21 points for Italy but Serbia-Montenegro had four players had more than 10 points including Ivana Djerisilo 17 and Anja Spasojevic 17 points.

Championship contender Brazil opened in Kobe with 25-21, 25-15, 25-18 win over Puerto Rico. Brazil won a fourth straight World Grand Prix title in September but never won a world championship title before.

Fabiana Claudino led the Brazil team with 16 points while Jaqueline Carvalho had 14.

Also in Kobe, the United States, 2002 world championship silver medalist, overcame a slow start to win 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 26-28, 16-14 over Kazakhstan. Nancy Metcalf led the United States with 25 points.

In other games played on Tuesday, Olympic champion China posted a 3-1 win over Azerbaijan while Cuba, which finished a disappointing fifth four years ago, got a team-high 16 points from Rosir Calderon Diaz on its way to a 25-20, 27-25, 25-21 win over Turkey.

Host Japan suffered a big defeat as they were trounced 25-18, 18-25, 19-25 and 23-25 by Chinese Taipei, while another powerhouse Russia swept Mexico 25-8, 25-11 and 25-10.

Also on Tuesday, South Korea beat Costa Rica,25-16, 25-15, 25-17; Poland defeated Kenya, 25-15, 25-17, 20-25, 25-20; Germany had an easy win over Dominican Republic 25-17, 25-16 and 25-21.

Netherlands rallied past Cameron 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-18); Peru beat Egypt, 3-0 (25-19, 25-6, 25-13).

Source: Xinhua