Lausanne, Switzerland, May 29, 2018 - Japan play China in the Asian derby of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Wednesday in Hong Kong, but they've not beaten their opponents in their last seven encounters and trail the reigning world champions 9-56 in their world level series.
Head-to-Head
• China have won the last seven matches against Japan at world level major tournaments.
• The women's world level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup.
• China's most recent win at a world level major was 3-1 at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup.
• Japan won nine of the 56 matches versus China at world level, most recently a 3-0 win at the 2014 World Grand Prix.
• At the 2017 Asian Championships, Japan beat China 3-0 in the semifinals, en route to lifting the trophy.
China
• China claimed their fourth win at the VNL with a 3-0 victory against Argentina on 29 May.
• China could win at least five matches at a single major world level tournament for the 10th time in a row. The last time they failed to do so was at the 2012 Olympic Games (3 wins).
• Each of China's last nine defeats in major world level matches came in front of a home crowd in China.
• China have won the opening set in 10 of their last 11 major world level matches. The exception was the 3-0 loss versus Republic of Korea on 17 May.
• China scored 18 points from stuff blocks against Argentina of which seven scored by Yan Ni, four by Zhu Ting and three by Wang Yuanyuan.
• Zhu Ting (16) led her team in terms of scoring versus Argentina, her first points at the VNL.
Japan
• Japan beat Italy in a tight five-setter in their last match at the VNL, marking their third victory in the competition.
• Japan were outscored by Italy (105 v 107), including in spikes (45 v 49), stuff blocks (4 v 11) and serves (3 v 6). They did score more points from opponents' errors (53 v 39).
• Japan have won seven of their last eight five-setters at major world level, with a defeat against United States at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup as the only exception in this run.
• Japan can win successive major world level fixtures for the first time since winning their last two of the 2017 World Grand Prix and their first of the 2017 Grand Champions Cup.
• Ai Kurogo (16) and Yuki Ishii (12) both scored at least 10 points for Japan against Italy.