World Cup win for Italy

World Championship: Italy celebrate World Cup win in Japan

Italy successfully defended their Women's World Cup volleyball title in Japan to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics - alongside the USA and China.

The Italians finished with a 10-1 record after routing winless Kenya 25-6, 25-10, 25-17, but still had to wait until after the final match of the tournament to see if they had retained their title.

America could have won a first World Cup title with a two-set win over Japan, but instead they were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat to hand the trophy to Italy.

2004 Olympic champions China managed to overcome Germany 3-0 to claim third place and the final qualifying spot for London 2012.

It was Italy who won the crown though, to become the first team to successfully defend the World Cup title since Cuba back in 1999.

Pride

"Returning to win after four years is really something that makes me very proud," said Italy coach Massimo Barbolini

"This is a very difficult tournament and after winning 10 games, we deserved the victory. I'm really proud of my team."

China's win saw them sneak into third place narrowly ahead of Japan, and coach Yu Juemin said it was an important step on their road to London 2012.

"We had to fight against the pressure, because we were vying for the Olympics. We prepared very well for this match, so I had nothing to talk to my players during the match," said Yu.

"It was our best match in this tournament. We are going to improve further before the Olympics to cope with the top teams in the world," added Yu.

Hosts Japan missed out by just two points in the end as they came in fourth, and they must now qualify for the Olympics through the Asian qualifying tournament next year.

"I told my players to finish this tournament with a win," said Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe.

"We are going to win a ticket to London in May and then try to take a shot at an Olympic medal."