Japan

Host Country / FIVB World Ranking 12th

With great expectations, Tatsuya Ueta’s squad took up the challenge at the World Cup 2007, the first qualifier for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Unfortunately their results did not meet anyone’s expectations - Japan finished 9th, with three wins and eight losses out of eleven matches.

Nevertheless, Ueta and those involved in the men’s national team were strongly convinced that despite the unsatisfactory result at the World Cup 2007 the players’ morale had been boosted and fundamental skills with combined offence had remarkably improved compared to those of several years ago. Furthermore, the young players i.e. Yusuke Ishijima, Yu Kishikawa and Kunihiro Shimizu have gained invaluable experience and confidence during the tournament.

Ueta’s squad was launched immediately after the huge disappointment of the Athens Olympic Qualification Tournament in 2004 - Japan has not qualified for the Olympics for successive tournaments. After Mikiyasu Tanaka was ousted as head coach of the men’s national team, Ueta took over the position and he made a plan to develop young promising players to improve physical fitness.

Japan’s Men’s squad finished 8th at the 2006 World Championship and were quite satisfied with this result. Everyone believes that the squad has been rapidly improving since the present head coach, Ueta, was appointed. Many believed that the team had finally come out of a long dark tunnel.

The goal of Ueta’s squad in 2007 was, of course, to secure a berth for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 at the World Cup 2007. Ueta picked the best players for his squad for the World Cup as well as the World League. The training worked out well and Japan beat two European powerhouses, Italy and France, in the preliminary round.

At the Asian Men’s Championship in September in Jakarta, Japan’s squad, as the defending champion, threw away the lead and finished runner-up. Ueta and his players have taken to heart that even little mistakes cause failure.

Bearing in mind that the schedule will be very tough prior to the Olympics in 2008, Japan’s squad was aiming to qualify for the Olympics at the World Cup with the support of volleyball fans in Japan. However, most participating teams in the World Cup 2007 were very strong that Ueta’s squad could not add to the wins. As the result, Japan finished 9th.

Immediately after the World Cup 2007 and having no time to dwell on failure, Ueta’s players have embarked on their next goal - to secure a berth at the Beijing Olympics at the Olympic Qualification Tournaments in May in Tokyo. Japan’s Premier League lasts until the beginning of April. So Ueta has decided to coach young players in private to improve their individual skills during the Premier League. The team will gather in mid- April and concentrate on the OQT with all their might.

Australia

Asia / FIVB World Ranking 11th

The Australian team entered the new century with an appearance in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where they placed 8th, beating Spain in the process and taking a set from World Champion, Italy.

Having participated in the Sydney Olympics as the host nation, the team set out to qualify for Athens, in its own right (for the first time). At the 2004 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo, Australia achieved this historic goal becoming the Asian Volleyball Confederation’s representative in Athens as the highest ranked Asian team, when it defeated traditional Asian powers Japan, Korea and China for the first time in a single International tournament. At the Athens Olympics, in 2004, the team eventually finished 11th while taking set off the USA and World and Olympic Champions Brazil

A new look team competed in its 4th World Championships in 2006, to follow up its appearance in the 1982, 1998, 2002 editions of the tournament.

In 2007, the team returned to Fukuoka (a host city of the 2006 World Championships) to win the Asia Pacific Cup for the first time.

Following on from their success at the Asia Pacific Cup, the Australian team traveled to India for the 2nd Commonwealth Championships for Men and won their second successive tournament in the space of two months as preparation for the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship in Indonesia. At the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship the team created Asian volleyball history by winning the championship after playing ten games in ten days with only one loss. This was the first time in which a country other than China, Japan or Korea had won the Continental Championship and as such qualified Australia to its first World Cup.　　

At the World Cup 2007, the Australian team ranked 8th. The team’s ace spiker, Paul Carroll, was the second best scorer at the World Cup.

Korea

Asia / FIVB World Ranking 16th

The history of the Korean National Men's Team in world competitions over the last 40 years has been rather inconsistent. Korea participated in the Olympic Games 8 times since 1964 and its best ranking was the 5th place at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. The team won the gold medals three times at the Asian Games, 1978 in Bangkok, 2002 in Busan, and 2006 in Doha.

At the World Cup 1991, the team placed 5th, the best result ever reached by the Korean National Men’s Team. Korea won four Asian Senior Men's Volleyball Championship titles in 1989, 1993, 2001 and 2003.

At the 2007 World League, Korean team won 3 matches against Canada. Although they lost, the team had an exciting game against Brazil and good matches with Finland. At the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship, the team got the bronze medal and at the World Cup 2007, the team ranked 11th. These valuable experiences helped players to improve their skills and performances.

Many young players like Sung-Min Moon, who had acquired valuable experience by taking part in international competitions in 2006 and 2007, will become main players for the team, while veteran players like Yeo Oh-Hyun, who was the second best digger and the second best libero at the World Cup 2007, will lead the team harmoniously.

Iran

Asia / FIVB World Ranking 26th

Having finished 8th in 1989 and 7th in 1991at the Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championships, the Iranian team is now one of the top teams in Asia. The team placed in the top five at the Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championships in 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, and won the bronze medal in 2003. Although not qualified for the Olympics, the team ranked 5th at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in 2004.

At the 2006 World Championship, the team ranked 21st and was unable to achieve the expected result. The team then welcomed a new head coach Gajic Zoran, the former head coach of the Russian national team, who had won silver and bronze medals at the last two Olympic Games. Under his leadership, the team finished 5th at the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship in 2007. The team also has a higher average height than other Asian teams, which must not be underestimated

Thailand

Asia / FIVB World Ranking 28th

Thai Men’s Team is one of the best team of Southeastern Zone of Asia which includes 4 men’s team; Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

The team was in their top performance during the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Championship in Indonesia in September 2007. This championship was the qualification tournament for the Olympic Qualification Tournament and Thai Men’s Team was succeeded to be one of the qualified teams as the 6th ranked team of this Asian Senior Men’s Championship.

Thai Men’s Team surprised fans with unbelievable results when the team beat Saudi Arabia, Asian Games bronze medal in the preliminary round and beat Japan, silver medal of the 14th Asian Senior Men’s Championship in the final round.

The other results of Thai Men’s Team for the last 3 years are 5th place of the 13th Asian Senior Men’s Championship in 2005 and10th place of the 15th Asian Games in 2006.

Argentina

South America / South America COQT 2nd / FIVB World Ranking 6th

The Argentina team's first participation in an official event was at the South American Championship held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1951 and they finished 4th. The Argentinean Men's team first took part in the World Championship in 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, finishing 11th. Since then, Argentina participated in 8 World Championships and its best ranking was 3rd, which was in Buenos Aires in 1982. At the last World Championship in 2006, Argentina finished 13th.

The team first qualified for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and finished 6th, and 4 years later in Seoul won the Bronze medal. The team finished 8th in Atlanta in 1996, 4th in Sydney in 2000 and finally 5th in Athens in 2004.

The team’s key players are a veteran setter Marcos Milinkovic, Guillermo Garcia who became the fourth best scorer at the World Cup 2007, and a 19-year-old setter Luciano De Cecco. At the South American Qualification Tournament in 2008, the team ranked 2nd.

Italy

Europe / Europe COQT 7th / FIVB World Ranking 10th

The first success of the Italian National team was the bronze medal won at the European Championships in 1948. After the gold medal at the 1959 Universiade in Turin, Italy remained steadily at the top of world volleyball scene.

The Italian team has taken part in the World League since its first World League in 1990. At the 2000 World League, Italy won its 8th gold medal at the World League. Over the past three years, however, the team couldn’t win the medal (7th in 2005, 6th in 2006, and 9th in 2007).

The Italian team won three gold medals at the World Championship since 1990. At the latest World Championship in 2006, the team finished 5th. Since 1990, the team also won a gold medal at the World Cup 1995, a bronze medal at the World Cup 1999, and a silver medal at the World Cup 2003. But the team couldn’t qualify for the latest World Cup 2007.

The team attended the Olympic Games continuously from 1976 onwards. Recently, the team won the bronze medal at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and the silver medal at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. The team is aiming to keep its participation to the Olympic Games.

Algeria

Africa / Africa COQT 2nd / FIVB World Ranking 60th

Algeria is one of the leading countries in Africa and competed at the Olympic Games in 1992, the World Cup in 1991, and the World Championship in 1994 and in 1998. The team also participated in the Olympic Qualification Tournament 2004 and ranked 8th.

In February 2008, The Algerian Team became the vice-champion of the Men’s African Olympic Qualification Tournament. At the tournament, 10 teams competed for one slot in Beijing. The team finished first in the Group A in the preliminary round and the team also beat Tunisia at the semi-final. At the final, the team lost after a five set match lasting for two hours. Throughout the tournament, the Algerian team showed great performance with the two strong left attackers, Mohamed Chikhi and Ali Kerboua.

The Algerian team is expected to follow the women’s team who has already qualified for the Olympic Games in the Beijing.