With four round-robin matches to go, Italy is a virtual cinch to qualify for Monday's semifinals. That's not really news, but the rise of Chinese Taipei certainly is.

Italy is out in front by 26 Victory Points after pounding erstwhile runner-up Israel, 21-9, on vugraph last night. Italy also blitzed Australia and edged Brazil, 16-14.

Meanwhile Chinese Taipei collected 67 out of a possible 75 VPs for the day. They blitzed Brazil and Egypt and defeated Israel, 17-13. After starting the day in fifth place, they moved up one position after each match to take over second place, 9 points ahead of USA 2.

USA 2 recovered with an 18-12 victory over Brazil in their last match. After losses to CAC and Australia, the Americans had dropped to fourth. The big losers for the day were the big winners from the previous day - Israel. After defeating Argentina, 23-7, Israel had to face Chinese Taipei and Italy. They had climbed to a tie for second place, but the losses dropped them all the way to a tie for fourth place with Denmark.

Meanwhile Denmark had tight wins over both Canadian teams, but they lost to Hong Kong. China and Norway also are still very much in the battle for one of the qualifying berths.