Men's preliminary round, group B:
Yugoslavia - Australia 80-66 (45-28)

YUGOSLAVIA: Dejan Bodiroga 19, Predrag Danilovic 16, Sasa Obradovic 9, Dragan Tarlac 9, Zeljko Rebraca 8, Vlado Scepanovic 6, Dejan Tomasevic 6, Dragan Lukovski 5, Igor Rakocevic 2.

AUSTRALIA: Andrew Gaze 21, Shane Heal 18, Chris Anstey 12, Luc Longley 6, Sam Mackinnon 4, Andrew Vlahov 3, Mark Bradtke 2.

Russia - Spain 71-63 (38-28)

Canada - Angola 99-54 (50-29)

Group B standings (tabulate under - won, lost, for, against, points):

 Canada      2    0    200    144    4
 YUGOSLAVIA  2    0    146    126    4
 Spain       1    1    127    116    3
 Russia      1    1    131    129    3
 Australia   0    2    156    181    2
 Angola      0    2     99    163    2

Italy and Yugoslavia battled each other for more than two hours before the Italians prevailed in the most brilliantly played match yet in Olympic men's volleyball.

Samuel Papi's big hits in the deciding fifth game helped Italy earn the dramatic 25-19, 19-25, 25-22, 31-33, 22-20 victory Tuesday, but the outcome was in doubt right to the final point.

With Italy leading 2 games to 1, neither team gave an inch. The crowd gasped at every slam and diving dig - and at the rash of wayward hits and other blunders that kept the match going on.

Ivan Miljkovic (YUG) spikes the ball past Italian blocks

With the score tied at 30-all, Yugoslav captain Nikola Grbic, Vladimir's brother, served straight into the net. But teammate Ivan Miljkovic had his back, getting two kills and a block to send it to the fifth game.

Under the new rules, which started with the 1998 world championships, teams also must get to 25 points to win a game, until the fifth, when the deciding score is 15.

Italy, the top-ranked team in the world, looked like it would dominate the match after running off four straight points on the way to taking the first game. But the Italians went flat, and Yugoslavia kept coming back. Twice the Yugoslavs crashed through the padded barrier about 20 feet behind the service line running after balls.

Italy improved to 2-0, and the Yugoslavs dropped to a very misleading 0-2. They stunned Russia in the opening game of the first round, then lost the next three games by a combined eight points.

Yugoslavia takes on the United States on Thursday with a chance to knock the Americans out ofmedal contention.

Olympic men's volleyball results - September 19
Men's preliminary round, group A:

Brazil - Egypt 3-0

Cuba - Spain 3-1

Netherlands - Australia 3-0

Standings (tabulate under - played, won, lost, sets won, sets lost, points):

 Brazil         2    2    0    6    0    4
 Netherlands    2    2    0    6    0    4
 Spain          2    1    1    4    3    3
 Cuba           2    1    1    3    4    3
 Egypt          2    0    2    0    6    2
 Australia      2    0    2    0    6    2

Men's preliminary round, group B:

Italy - YUGOSLAVIA 3-2 (25-19 19-25 25-22 31-33 22-20)

Argentina - South Korea 3-1

Russia - U.S. 3-1

Standings (tabulate under - played, won, lost, sets won, sets lost, points):

 Russia         2    2    0    6    2    4
 Italy          2    2    0    6    2    4
 Argentina      2    2    0    6    2    4
 YUGOSLAVIA     2    0    2    3    6    2
 U.S.           2    0    2    2    6    2
 South Korea    2    0    2    1    6    2

Yugoslav swimmer Nikola Kalabic won the Men's 100m freestyle heat 5, but failed to qualify for the Olympic semifinals.

In the competition with 73 swimmers Kalabic was the 39th having finished with the time of 51.82.

After wining the Repechage heat 1 in convincing fashion, Yugoslav Men's coxless fours (Filip Filipovic, Ivan Smiljanic, Boban Rankovic and Mladen Stegic) have qualified for the Olympic semifinals.

Our fours have finished with the time of 6:09.69.

The Romanian fours won the second place, while the Egyptian team finished the third.