YUGOSLAVIA - Japan 3-0

Nagoya, JAPAN, November 21 (fivb.ch) - The mighty Yugoslavia was too strong to be held off as the Olympic champion silenced the host Japan and the audience in the over-packed Nagoya Rainbow Hall by winning 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-17).

With the first two matches of the day having ended in 3-0s, the European champions carried on the trend to keep their title hope alive after an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Cuba on Tuesday.

Japan created a "miracle" 3-2 win over Argentina yesterday with the full supports of the partisan local fans. This time, however, Yugoslavia put the pressure back to the host team as it never let its Asian pupils come close to any chance of upset.

Yugoslavia picked up the big servers, which were forfeit in Tuesday's loss, to keep a steady stand in the game. They broke away every time after the first technical timeout on point 8 in the each set, and never looked back again after that.

It was only in the third set that Japan delivered challenge when it restrained a 4-point deficit for half a set, before Yugoslavia took the charge again at 17-13.

Round 2 - other results

CUBA - KOREA 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-22)
BRAZIL - ARGENTINA 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-7)

Standings after 2 rounds

               G W L  F-A  Pts
1. Cuba        2 2 0  6-0   4
2. Brazil      2 2 0  6-1   4
3. YUGOSLAVIA  2 1 1  3-3   3
4. Japan       2 1 1  3-5   3
5. Argentina   2 0 2  2-6   2
6. Korea       2 0 2  1:6   2