Serbia celebrate wildly as they claim the first world title in their history after outlasting Italy in five sets in the final of the 2018 FIVB World Championship at Yokohama.
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 20, 2018 - Serbia wrote history today at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship when they beat Italy in the final at Yokohama, while China swept the Netherlands for a consolation bronze.
It is the very first time that Serbia climb to the peak of international volleyball, confirming their world dominance in conjunction with their silver medal two years ago at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The Balkan side had previously won a World Championship bronze in 2006. For Italy, silver was their second medal overall in the history of the competition - but a step down from their gold from 2002.
2018 FIVB Women's World Championship Top Six final ranking:•
Gold: Serbia
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Silver: Italy
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Bronze: China
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4th: Netherlands
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5th: USA
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6th: Japan
It was the first time since the introduction of finals, in 1978, in the format of the World Championship that the gold medal match featured two European sides.
After twice coming back from a set down to force a tie-break, Serbia broke two points at the start of the bottom half of the fifth and remained on track till the end to seal their gold medal.
Tijana Boskovic and her teammates celebrate a point, Saturday evening in Yokohama, as the Balkan side gets crowned 2018 world champions.
Paola Egonu for the fourth time in this tournament scored in the 30s or above and added 33 to her tally for a total of an incredible 324, confirming her place as top scorer of this tournament and of all time - though this is surely small consolation for losing out on the gold medal.
But earlier on Saturday in Yokohama, China had crashed the European party and denied the 'Old Continent' a sweep of the medals, when they shut out the Netherlands 3-0 to claim bronze.
It is two-time world champions China's sixth medal in the history of the competition, but only the first ever bronze after two gold and three silver.
Just like two years ago at Rio 2016 when they lost to USA, the Netherlands felt the disappointent of losing out on a podium finish, which still eludes the Dutch at the World Championships.
China celebrate their sixth medal in World Championship history after beating the Netherlands for bronze, Saturday in Yokohama.Match Centres:•
Netherlands - China 0-3•
Serbia v Italy 3-2
Stefana Veljkovic shows all the passion and emotion of a World Championship final, as Serbia edge Italy for the ultimate volleyball title, Saturday in Yokohama.Quick links - Volleyball:FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Japan 2018NewsScheduleCompetitionTeamsResults and rankingTicketsVolleyball TV