FIVB Grand Prix: Poland hopes for a better weekend

(BEIJING, June 27) -- The second Preliminary Round of the FIVB Grand Prix is set to begin on Friday.

Poland, the host of the Group E matches, suffered a complete loss last weekend, finishing 0-3, but they look forward to a brighter weekend.

"We came here with hope to play much better than we did in Italy," said assistant coach for Poland Grzegorz Kosatka at Thursday's press conference in Wroclaw, reported the FIVB website. "This team, which is young and practically band-new is being tested during the Grand Prix. The team is getting together and I think that we'll perform much better than in Alassio."

The Dominican Republic, Thailand and the USA will join Poland in Group E matches at Centennial Hall.

China and Italy, unbeaten in the starting round last weekend, will meet each other in Hong Kong. Japan and Cuba, in Group F, also are strong teams, and both have a 2-1 win-loss record.

Brazil, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Germany make up Group D and will play one another in Vietnam from Friday to Sunday.

The final Preliminary Round takes place on the weekend of July 4-6, with each team playing a total of nine preliminary matches across three weekends before the finals, which start on July 9 in Yokohama, Japan.