Japan to host Brazil, China, Italy, USA and Cuba in FIVB World Grand Prix finals

(BEIJING, July 8) -- Brazil, China, Italy, USA and Cuba have all advanced to the FIVB World Grand Prix finals following three preliminary rounds and will join host Japan July 9-13 in Yokohama.

In top standing is Brazil, the six-time World Grand Prix champion. China, the 2003 champion and 2007 silver medalist, is second, and Italy, the bronze medalist last year, is third. All three powerhouses have an 8-1 win-loss record. The United States (7-2) and Cuba (6-3) are fourth and fifth.

23-25, 25-21, 25-8, 25-21), Kazakhstan 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-16) and Thailand 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 25-23, 25-17, 15-9), while host Thailand lost all three of its matches in front of home spectators.

 

Thai captain Wilavan Apinyapong said in a press conference: “Everyone in my team did a good job. We could reduce the unforced mistakes we did in the previous matches. Also, team manager Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai also gave us morale boost. We then played relaxed, but gave all what we had.”

 

“I have played in Thailand for several times but never thought they played better than this. They played exceptionally well. It was one of the most difficult tasks for my team. However, we could beat them finally,” Cuban captain Yumilka Ruiz Luaces remarked.

 

In Pool H in Chinese Taipei, Italy beat Turkey 3-1 and downed USA 3-0. Italy had a rough start and lost the first two sets against Poland, but they managed to get back on their feet, sweeping the last three sets to win. Team USA claimed the match 3-1 against Poland and Turkey.

Macao, China downed Japan and the Dominican Republic 3-0 but suffered a crushing defeat by Brazil 0-3. But Brazil lost the first two sets in the match against the Dominicans, which made them more cautious and storm back, settling the match in their favor.

Preliminary Round Standings

Rk

Code

Country

Points

Matches

Points

Sets

Won

Lost

Won

Lost

Ratio

Won

Lost

Ratio

1

BRA

Brazil

17

8

1

766

639

1.199

26

6

4.333

2

CHN

China

17

8

1

783

687

1.140

24

10

2.400

3

ITA

Italy

17

8

1

844

751

1.124

26

10

2.600

4

USA

USA

16

7

2

771

664

1.161

22

11

2.000

5

CUB

Cuba

15

6

3

856

785

1.090

22

15

1.467

6

TUR

Turkey

13

4

5

743

732

1.015

16

17

0.941

7

GER

Germany

13

4

5

710

709

1.001

16

16

1.000

8

DOM

Dominican Republic

13

4

5

725

761

0.953

15

19

0.789

9

JPN

Japan

11

2

7

641

737

0.870

9

23

0.391

10

POL

Poland

10

1

8

768

855

0.898

13

24

0.542

11

THA

Thailand

10

1

8

710

824

0.862

10

26

0.385

12

KAZ

Kazakhstan

10

1

8

552

725

0.761

4

26

0.154