Lausanne, Switzerland, July 21, 2017 - Reigning Olympic champions China take on European champions Russia Saturday in Hong Kong aiming for their fifth straight head-to-head win at an official competition. China could also become the second team after Brazil to reach 200 all-time victories in the history of the FIVB World Grand Prix. Meanwhile, this is the first time ever that Russia have lost as many as five of their opening seven World Grand Prix matches.
Head-to-Head• China have won each of their last four encounters with Russia at world level.
• Only once before have China enjoyed a longer winning run versus Russia in major competitions. They won six in a row against them from 1993 to 1995.
• China have won their last three against Russia in the World Grand Prix. They have never won four in a row against them in the competition.
China• China (199) could become the second team, after Brazil, to win 200 World Grand Prix matches.
• China have won five of their seven 2017 World Grand Prix matches, also suffering straight-set defeats against United States and Italy.
• China could equal their total number of defeats in the World Grand Prix campaigns of 2015 and 2016 (both 3).
• Only in 2010 (4) and 2011 (3) have China had more than two straight-set defeats in a single World Grand Prix campaign.
Russia• This is the first time Russia have lost five of their opening seven matches of a World Grand Prix campaign.
• Russia lost more matches in only five of their previous 20 World Grand Prix campaigns – 1995 (8), 1996 (7), 1993 (6), 2014 (6) and 2015 (6).
• This is only the second time Russia have lost consecutive World Grand Prix matches in straight sets, after they suffered back-to-back 3-0 defeats against Brazil and Serbia in the semifinal and third place play-off in the 2011 tournament.
• Russia have lost each of their last five World Grand Prix five-setters. They had won five consecutive matches in the tournament that had gone to a deciding set before this run.