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The 2003
World Grand Prix will be the 11th edition with the
first Grand Prix tournament played in 1993. With the
growing success of the women's national teams in the
professional and elite women's competition, it is the
whole world of women's volleyball that is taking a new
dimension. Let's take a brief look at the previous
editions. |
1993 - 1994 -
1995 - 1996 -
1997 - 1998 -
1999 - 2000 -2001
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1993 - The first World Grand Prix for the best
women's national teams featured events in Japan,
Thailand, Australia, Korea, Malaysia and Chinese
Taipei with the finals played in Hong Kong. Eight
teams took part (CUB, CHN, RUS, BRA, KOR, JPN, USA,
GER) and Cuba claimed the title and US$ 400,000
after defeating China 3-1 in the final
1994 - Four new teams were included in the 2nd
edition of the World Grand Prix: Chinese Taipei,
Italy, Netherlands and Peru. New sites such as
Indonesia, Macao and Philippines were also included.
In the finals in Shanghai, Brazil became the
champions after dominating rivals Cuba. China took
the bronze medal with Japan finishing fourth.
1995 - This year the World Grand Prix went back to
the concept of eight teams playing simultaneously in
two groups of four, and the eight teams from 1993
were invited. For the first time the tournament went
outside Asia to Honolulu and Brazil. Beijing joined
the best teams for the first time. As a surprise to
many experts, the USA team clinched the title after
a strong performance in the final round with Brazil
second and China third.
1996 - Shortly after the Atlanta Olympic Games, the
eight best teams of the Olympic Tournament played in
Japan, Indonesia, China, Hawaii, Macao, Chinese
Taipei and Hong Kong. Olympic Champions Cuba could
not repeat the same performance from Atlanta and
were defeated by Brazil in the final round in
Shanghai. Russia took the bronze and the Chinese
team had to accept a somehow disappointing fourth
place.
1997 - Due to a very tight schedule this year, the
defending champions Brazil did not take part in the
1997 edition and was replaced by Italy. For the
first time, the finals were played in Japan in the
city of Kobe, and Russia won their first World Grand
Prix title after a tough match against Cuba. Korea
finished third and the host team had to be contented
with the fourth place.
1998 - The concept of World Grand Prix was changed
this year: the final round played in Hong Kong
consists of two semifinals, final and bronze match
instead of the traditional round robin system. New
host countries were included, for one, India hosting
for the first time ever, a world volleyball event
where thousands of enthusiastic fans crowded the
stadium in Chennai. The fans loved the new format
and in front of a capacity crowd of 10,000 in the
Hong Kong Coliseum, Brazil won its third title
beating Russia in the final, while Cuba took the
bronze after a strong performance against China.
1999 - In just one hour, the Russian women's
volleyball team overpowered the title defender
Brazil, at the final of the I million US$ World
Grand Prix' 99, in Yu Xi China. Over 4,200
spectators witnessed the easy straight win of the
players coached by Nikolai Karpol, who only needed 3
sets (25-23, 25-22, 25-20) against Brazil to clinch
the Gold medal - their second in the history of the
World Grand Prix as they won the '97 edition.
Strength and height were Russia's main weapons
during this final. China recovers from initial
service errors and nerves in the first set to
capture the Bronze medal in four sets (19-25, 25-20,
25-23, 25-21).
2000 - The Cuban National Women's Volleyball team,
winner of 1996 Olympic Games, the 1998 World
Championships and the 1999 World Cup secured the
Volleyball Grand Slam by winning the 2000 edition of
the World Grand Prix in Manila, Philippines in front
of a massive 10,750 fans at the Philsports Arena,
becoming one of the favorites to the nomination of
the "Best Team of the Century". Individual
prizes were awarded to the following players: MVP -
Lioubov Chachkova - Sokolova (RUS) Best Server -
Erika Coimbra (BRA) Best Blocker - Ekaterina Gamova
(RUS) Best Spiker - Valle Ana Fernandez (CUB) Best
Libero - Li Yan (CHN).
2001 -The United States defeated China three
sets to one in the final for their second FIVB World
Women’s Grand Prix Finals. The Americans won
in 1995 in Shanghai. The USA overpowered China with
superior serving, blocking and spiking.
The best scorer for the match for the USA team was
No. 2, Danielle Scott; while for China, it was No.
3, Yang Hao.
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