Three-time Olympic champion Cuba marched to the women's volleyball quarterfinals after beating its "student" Venezuela 3-0 on Friday morning.
The Cuban handed out another lesson to the youngest team of the 12 competitors, who have been training with them for a long time to win the "friendly match" 25-20, 25-20, 25-19.
With a clean winning sheet to top Pool A, Cuba will face the winner of the Pool B match between Russia and Serbia in the quarterfinals. Venezuela finish their first Olympic debut with five losses.
The fearless Venezuelans, however, were no humble student at the court and showed fully what they have learned, with similar two-setter attack formation and technics of Cuba.
The Venezuelans, with an average age less than 19, surprised their trainers by taking a lead 12-11 in the decider. However, their inexperience of global competitions cost them dearly at the crucial points and they went down the set 25-19.
"It's a match between two friendly teams. I have a mixed feeling to play with Cuba, our teacher, because on one hand they are our teacher, but on the other hand we are fighting for the dignity of Venezuela," said Cuban Tomas Fernandez, head coach of Venezuela. "But at the court, we are in a professional relationship and I'm glad that my players gave their best."
For the Venezuelan players, Olympics gave their a wide stage to know more about volleyball and learn from their elites, though they could go further with five losses in row.
"The advantage of the Olympic Games for us is that we have the opportunity to play against Asian teams, because we had never done that before. We were not adapted to their fast style of play, but now we have gained experience in that respect," said Venezuelan captain Jayce Andreade.
Cuba's head coach Antonio Perdomo praised performances of the Venezuelan in the match, which he said was a "warm-up" for the quarterfinals.
"We sent some back-up players on the court today to prepare for the coming tough games, but Venezuela played really well today," said Perdomo.
"Teams in quarterfinals are all strong, but So far, Cuba, Brazil and Italy played very well and remained unbeatable, so I think they have better chance to enter the semifinals, another seat may be taken by China or the United States," he said.
Earlier in the day, Algeria ended its maiden Olympic trip with a disappointing five losses in row. However, the north Africans showed great fighting spirit in their last show against Kazakhstan and pulled one set back from the much taller peers, losing the match 18-25, 20-25, 25-17, 16-25.
Algerian head coach Mouloud Ikhedji is satisfied with his players' performances to realize their Olympic goal of "winning at least one set".
"This is the first time we have attended such a high-level event like the Olympics. Every match has brought us new experience. It is very helpful for our team," he said.
After beating Algeria, Kazakhstan scored their first, but also the last victory in Beijing. As only top four from the six-team group are able to make the quarterfinals, Kazakhstan, ranked fifth with a 1-4 win-loss victory, also finished their Olympic campaign.
However, for Kazak head coach Viktor Zhuravlev, what the team took away from Beijing was much more than a single victory.
"We have something to learn from every team in terms of their technique, training methods and personal capacities," said Zhuravlev. "We have taken video of all the matches and we will use it to develop the skills of our players."
(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)