India grouped with US in U-21 World Volleyball

Hosts India, ranked tenth in the world, have been drawn in Pool A along with with the mighty United States of America, Tunisia and Belarus in the 16-nation fifth FIVB Mens Under 21 World Volleyball Championships to be held at Pune from July 31 to August 9.

The hosts were among the eight seeded teams for the tournament, which is to be held at the Shiv Chatrapati Sports City in Balewadi.

The other seeded teams in the fray are three-time winners (1993, 2001 and 2007) and defending champions Brazil, currently ranked third, their arch-rivals from South America Argentina (rank 2), top-ranked Iran, last editions losing finalists Russia (rank 4), France (rank 5), China (rank 6) and USA (rank 7).

The draw of lots assigning the preliminary groups were held here last night by the international volleyball federations technical delegate Shanrit Wongprasert in the presence of organising committee chairman and Maharashtra's Finance Minister, DilipValse Patil.

K Murugan, Secretary-General of the Volleyball Federation of India, assured the international volleyball federation (FIVB) representatives that top-class facilities would be offered to the teams during the championship.