There are warm-up presenters at every venue, tasked with getting the crowd buzzing and then keeping them there. It helps the atmosphere in the venue, and makes for better TV. But where many disappointing MCs ask the audience to applaud themselves for no apparent reason, or worse, to break the glass marked Mexican wave, this guy had an arsenal of tricks from the spectacular Bongo Cam to a mass karaoke session. And rather than thanking ourselves for making it here, we applauded the volunteers on court.
The first order was an Ashes clash - a sadly brief affair in which the more experienced Australians were troubled only in the final of their three sets. The British team grew in confidence throughout, however, and improved in each, led by a fine performance from Mark McGivern, who plays professionally in the French league for Avignon. There is a hard road ahead though, and Team GB must face Italy, Poland and Argentina, each of whom sit in the top 8 of the world rankings.
Top billing went to Brazil, who were bent but never broken by an intimidating Russian team. The Samba Boys were able to leave all-time great Giba on their bench and still dispatch the team ranked their closest competitor by governing body FIBA in three sets. Each was tight until the end, when the stakes rose and so did the Brazilian hitters Murilo and Leandro, notching 40 points between them. The young families who had come to watch the home team may have drifted away by the end, but in the premium seats downstairs the huge Brazilian crowd created a carnival throughout. The final appearance of the Bongo Cam was for triumph, not for effort.
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