体坛英语新闻：Brazil edge closer to Olympic qualification

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's women's volleyball team moved one step closer to the London Olympics after beating Colombia 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-19) in the the South American Olympic qualifiers on Thursday.

Brazil will wait for their semifinal opponents from Chile, Venezuela, Argentina or Peru.

Star center Thaisa dominated the match for the reigning Olympic

champions, tormenting Colombia with her powerful spiking to finish

with a game-high 14 points.

Brazil are firm favorites to win the tournament and claim the South American berth for the London Games which will see 12 women's and 12 men's teams.

Hosts Britain automatically entered the Games as did the top three finishers from last year's World Cup in Japan. The rest of the qualifiers will come from continental qualification tournaments and the world Olympics qualification tournaments.