Bulgaria has stopped Russia's eight-match winning streak at the men's World Cup volleyball tournament in Japan.
The Bulgarians scored a narrow 3-2 victory (25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12) to improve to 7-2. Russia drops to 8-1.
The United States is 7-2 after a straight sets 3-0 win over Japan, 25-18, 27-25, 25-19. The Americans have edged into third place ahead of Bulgaria because of a better points ratio in all matches. That is important because the top three at this 12-team round-robin event earn berths at next year's Beijing Olympics.
Like Russia, world champion Brazil is also 8-1 after defeating Argentina earlier Friday 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-16). But Russia holds down the top spot with a slightly better points ratio.
African champion Egypt posted its first win, beating South Korea, 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-22), while Puerto Rico was a 3-0 winner over Tunisia (25-17, 25-17, 25-23). Spain defeated Australia, 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-20). The USA's final two matches are against Argentina and Russia, while Bulgaria's last two matches are against host Japan and Argentina.
Some information for this report provided by AFP
