China, Brazil, Japan claim opening wins in World Grand Prix Finals
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Brazil repeated their 2012 Olympic Games final result and beat USA for the second time in the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2013 |
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Sapporo, Japan, August 28, 2013 –
Reigning two-time Olympic champions Brazil and Asian powerhouses China and Japan
collected opening wins as the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals started in Sapporo on Wedneday.
China beat Serbia in first
match of World Grand Prix Finals Preliminary winners
China beat Serbia 3-1 in the opening match of the Finals.
With the 25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 25-20 triumph, the Chinese women
extended their winning streak connecting the preliminary rounds and the Finals
to ten. Xu Yunli led China with 19 points, while
Jovana Brakocevic scored 23 for Serbia. China outblocked Serbia 15-9 and
outserved them 6-3.
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Jenny Lang Ping delighted with
her team’s performance China coach Lang Ping
was delighted with her side’s 16th straight win since she took the
helm of the national team in April. “I asked the players to concentrate and get
into the game as soon as possible,” she said. “The Serbia team is very powerful
at the net, especially in hitting and blocking. And I asked my players to be
patient and improve our cover systems. And they did a pretty good job. They
served well and did pretty well during the game but still have some parts where
they are inconsistent. When the other team served better, we still faced
difficult moments.”
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Brazil rout USA in three sets Brazil beat
three-time defending World Grand Prix champions USA 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-10) in
a rematch of the 2012 London Olympic Games final, which was also won by the
Brazilians 3-1. Taking their encounter in the Preliminary Round into
consideration, the USA team has lost all three recent matches against Brazil.
Fernanda Rodrigues led Brazil with 13 points, while Nicole Fawcett was the top
scorer for USA with 10 points. Brazil had 11 blocking points to USA’s seven,
while both teams had three service points.
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Brazil's block and defence
almost perfect - USA captain USA captain Kristin
Hildebrand thought Brazil’s block and defence were almost perfect. ”It was very
difficult to find our rhythm tonight. But we’ll be ready tomorrow and come back
prepared for the rest of the tournament.” USA coach Karch Kiraly praised the
overall performance of the South Americans. “Today, Brazil played very good
volleyball. They beat us in every phase of the game,” he said. “They’re a very
strong team. It’s a good learning experience for USA to face such strong play
and hopefully it will make us stronger tomorrow. It’s a real challenge to play
five strong teams in five days and the challenge is for us to bounce back after
facing adversity like we did today.”
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Japan overcome Italy in three
sets Japan beat Italy 3-0
(25-18, 25-19, 25-22) in the third match of the Finals of the FIVB World
Grand Prix in Sapporo on Wednesday. Japan and Italy are ranked third and fourth,
respectively, on the FIVB world ranking and before Wednesday, Japan had only
lost one of their last five World Grand Prix matches against Italy. Japan were
led by Yukiko Ebata (16 points) and Saori Kimura (15), while Valentina Diouf
scored 14 points for Italy.
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Japanese team’s work after
Sendai round paid off Japan coach Masayoshi
Manabe attributed the surprisingly easy victory to the team’s work after the
Preliminary Round in Sendai. “I knew the players were nervous because it was our
first match so I’m happy for them that we won,” he said. “After the Sendai
round, we needed to think about how to improve and we had a week off that gave
us plenty of time to think about our game, and things worked out really well.”
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Video interviews Serbia vs China press
conference Jelena Nikolic (Serbia) Nicole Fawcett (USA)
LIVE SCOREBOX | FINALS
No |
Phase |
Date |
Local
Time |
GMT
Time |
Teams |
Live Score
Result |
City |
Description |
Press
Conf. |
Stats |
Photos |
91 |
Finals |
28/08 |
13:30 |
04:30 |
SRB-CHN |
1-3 |
Sapporo |
View |
View |
View |
View |
92 |
Finals |
28/08 |
15:55 |
06:30 |
BRA-USA |
3-0 |
Sapporo |
View |
View |
View |
View |
93 |
Finals |
28/08 |
19:10 |
10:10 |
JPN-ITA |
3-0 |
Sapporo |
View |
|
View |
View |
94 |
Finals |
29/08 |
13:30 |
04:30 |
USA-SRB |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
95 |
Finals |
29/08 |
15:30 |
06:30 |
ITA-CHN |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
96 |
Finals |
29/08 |
19:10 |
10:10 |
JPN-BRA |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
97 |
Finals |
30/08 |
13:30 |
04:30 |
CHN-USA |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
98 |
Finals |
30/08 |
15:30 |
06:30 |
BRA-ITA |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
99 |
Finals |
30/08 |
19:10 |
10:10 |
SRB-JPN |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
100 |
Finals |
31/08 |
13:30 |
04:30 |
ITA-USA |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
101 |
Finals |
31/08 |
15:30 |
06:30 |
BRA-SRB |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
102 |
Finals |
31/08 |
19:10 |
10:10 |
JPN-CHN |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
103 |
Finals |
01/09 |
13:30 |
04:30 |
SRB-ITA |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
104 |
Finals |
01/09 |
15:30 |
06:30 |
CHN-BRA |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
105 |
Finals |
01/09 |
19:10 |
10:10 |
USA-JPN |
View |
Sapporo |
|
|
|
View |
Standings
Rk |
Code |
Team |
Points |
Matches |
Results Details |
Sets |
Points |
Played |
Won |
Lost |
3-0 |
3-1 |
3-2 |
2-3 |
1-3 |
0-3 |
Won |
Lost |
Ratio |
Won |
Lost |
Ratio |
1 |
BRA |
Brazil |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
MAX |
75 |
41 |
1.829 |
2 |
JPN |
Japan |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
MAX |
75 |
59 |
1.271 |
3 |
CHN |
China |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
3 |
1 |
3.000 |
97 |
83 |
1.169 |
4 |
SRB |
Serbia |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
3 |
0.333 |
83 |
97 |
0.856 |
5 |
ITA |
Italy |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
59 |
75 |
0.787 |
6 |
USA |
USA |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
41 |
75 |
0.547 |
Top Scoring Performances 23 – Jovana Brakocevic of Serbia
v China (August 28) 19 – Xu Yunli of China v Serbia
(August 28) 16 – Ebata Yukiko of Japan v
Italy (August 28)
Top Blocking Performances 7 – Xu Yunli of China v Serbia
(August 28) 5 – Iwasaka Nana of Japan v Italy
(August 28) 4 – Valentina Diouf of Italy v
Japan (August 28)
Top Blocking Performances by team 15 – China v Serbia (August 28) 13 – Brazil v USA (August 28) 9 – Serbia v China (August 28) 9 – Japan v Italy (August 28)
Top Serving Performance 3 – Xu Yunli of China v Serbia
(August 28) 3 – Kimura Saori of Japan v Italy
(August 28) 2 – Iwasaka Nana of Japan v Italy
(August 28)
Top Serving Performances by team
8 – Japan v Italy (August 28) 6 – China v Serbia (August 28) 4 – Brazil v USA (August 28)
Highest Scorer by week Week 1: Katarzyna
Skowronska-Dolata of Poland, 41 v Russia (August 4) Week 2: Yukiko Ebata of Japan,
28 v Kazakhstan (August 10) Week 3: Nataliya Goncharova of
Russia, 31 v Thailand (August 18) Finals:
Jovana Brakocevic of Serbia, 23 v China (August 28)
Highest Set Score Week 1:
Poland v Russia, 30-28 (August 4)
Japan v Turkey, 30-28 (August 4) Week 2:
Argentina v Turkey, 36-34 (August 9) Week 3:
Bulgaria v Japan, 31-29 (August 16) Week 3:
Italy v Dominican Republic, 30-32 (August 17) Finals: Serbia v China,
25-22 (August 28)
Japan v Italy, 25-22 (August 28)
Highest Scoring Matches Week 1: Russia v Poland, 3-2
(25-21, 22-25, 29-27, 28-30, 15-13) – 235 points Week 2: Bulgaria v Dominican
Republic, 2-3 (22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 30-28, 14-16) - 226 points Week 3: Italy v Dominican
Republic, 3-2 (25-21, 25-19, 30-32, 24-26, 11-15) - 228 points Finals: Serbia v
China 1-3 (21-25, 25-22, 17-25, 20-25) – 180 points
2013 World Grand Prix Finals page
2013 World Grand Prix Finals Live
Scorebox
2013 World Grand Prix Finals Schedule
FIVB World Rankings
FIVB World Grand Prix Media Guide
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