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Brilliant Japan against weakened China

Japan's brilliant defense beat Turkey yesterday. China are weakened, and result is not their priority here. Two brilliant performances in Tokyo and the fact they're playing home today make Japan the favorite for the win here.

FIVB

The Asian derby match will take place on the third day of the Grand Prix final tournament. These two teams met just five days ago in China, and Japan beat China in a match that was not important result-wise. Neither team did their best, an neither used their top players. That makes the result recorded in that match irrelevant for the match taking place today. Especially because China can't count on 4 top players here.

The absences of key players left China unable to stand up to Brasil yesterday. They lost in straight sets (25:23, 25:20, and 25:21). China did put up a fight, but Brazil did better in the key moments. The young Chinese team struggled with Brazilian block more than with anything else.

- I don't think we did that badly. It was alright, but we didn't have a lot of chance to play with the new girls on the team. Brazil are one of the top teams in the world, they are very consistent. There are a lot of things we still have to work on - the captain Zeng Chunlei said.

FIVB

This competition is a chance for China to try some younger players out, while the best ones are resting for the WC. That suggests quite clearly that the result here is not their priority. They are relaxed and that can be their advantage since expectations for Japan are high following their two great wins here. They managed to beat Turkey yesterday in straight sets, allowing the only team that beat Brasil in this year's edition of Grand Prix to get only 47 points. 

- We got off to a good start, our reception was good. Turkey destroyed us with serving the first week, and we knew just how important reception will be. We want to get power from this match for the meeting with China tomorrow - said Japan's libero Sano.

Japan's defense were brilliant yesterday, allowing their team to beat Turkey, and to become the top team with 6 points. Their serving was good, just like the blocking. Captain Saori Kimura and Ishii were the most efficient players, with 14 points each. As per usual, Japan had to do without a middle blocker.

- All went as planned today. The players were really focused, and this was probably the best match we did in a year. We still have three matches to do this weeks, and then we'll see how this tournament ends - coach Manaba said.