Roundup: Serbia and Montenegro makes another shock, Italy downs Peru

Having defeated defending champions Italy in the opening match, Serbia and Montenegro took another surprise victory over Cuba on Wednesday at the 2006 women's volleyball world championship

The eastern European team trounced the 2004 Olympic bronze medallists 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23) to secure first place in the pool.

Cuba levelled with Serbia and Montenegro 1-1 in the first two sets, but the following game was totally dominated by Serbia and Montenegro and an overwhelming fightback in the fourth set gave the underdogs another victory and put them in pole position in Group D.

In another Group D game played on Thursday, Italy rebounded from a first-day loss to defeat Peru in straight sets.

Italy, fourth in the world FIVB rankings, returned to form with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-14 win over 12th-ranked Peru.

The top four teams in each group advance to the second round.

In other matches, championship contender Brazil still led the Group C with a convincing 25-17, 25-13, 25-16 win over Kazakhstan. Fabiana Claudino led with 16 points for Brazil.

The United States again plunged into a hard fight with Netherlands but prevailed with a 25-19, 25-22, 27-29, 20-25, 15-7 win to rank second in the Group C.

Russia also continued their winning trend with a 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20 win over Azerbaijan in Group B in Sapporo.

Olympic champions China also had a convincing win over the Dominican Republic with 25-19, 25-17, 25-23.

But China could only rank third in the Group B as Germany managed a 3-0 win over Mexico with 25-18 25-21 25-19 to list second behind Russia.

In Tokyo, Chinese Taipei had their second victory over Kenya, defeating the opponent with 25-13, 25-9, 29-27 within 77 minutes.

Host Japan, who suffered an unexpected loss to Chinese Taipei, found their rhythm to trounce Costa Rica 25-9, 25-11 and 25-14.

Source: Xinhua