The profile of the 2000 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix has been defined this week in Nagoya, Japan, during a meeting conducted by Dr. Ruben Acosta, President of the FIVB, in presence of Directors of the various Organising Committees and the representatives of the teams. The first edition of the new millennium, the 8th overall, will offer an overall Prize Money of over 1 Million US$. The 8 participating National Selections are the following: BRAZIL – CHINA – CUBA – ITALY – JAPAN – KOREA – RUSSIA – USA The preliminary rounds will be played in Macao, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, China and Philippines, the latter being also the host of the Final Phase. Match Schedule Week 1 (Aug. 4-6) in MACAO Group A: China, Brazil, Japan, USA In THAILAND Group B: Cuba, Russia, Korea, Italy Week 2 (Aug. 11-13) in Chin. TAIPEI Group C: Brazil, Russia, Japan, Italy In MALAYSIA Group D: China, Cuba, Korea USA Week 3 (Aug. 18-20) in CHINA Group E: China, Cuba, Japan, USA In PHILIPPINES Group F: Brazil, Russia, Italy, Korea Week 4 (Aug. 24-27) in PHILIPPINES FINALS Aug. 24: 5th vs. 8th and 6th vs. 7th after preliminaries Aug. 25: Finals for places 5/6 and 7/8 Aug. 26: Semifinals 1st vs. 4th and 2nd vs. 3rd Aug. 27: Bronze and Gold Medal Matches For more information please visit FIVB Volleyball Online Info – http://www.fivb.org