Lausanne, Switzerland, July 3, 2017 - Turkey host Rio 2016 olympic silver medallists Serbia Friday in Ankara in what is the fifth encounter between the two sides in the history of the FIVB World Grand Prix. They have each won bronze medals in the competition (Turkey in 2012 and Serbia in 2011 and 2013) and this is a rematch of the bronze medal game at the 2015 European Championship, which Serbia won 3-0.
Head-to-Head• Turkey and Serbia will meet for the fifth time in the World Grand Prix. All previous encounters came in the group stages.
• Turkey won the first two meetings with Serbia, 3-1 in 2012 and 3-2 in 2014.
• Serbia won both encounters in 2015, 3-1 and 3-0.
• These teams last met in the bronze medal match at the 2015 European Championship. Serbia won the match in straight sets and finished third behind Russia (gold) and Netherlands (silver).
Turkey• Turkey will participate in the World Grand Prix for the seventh time and for sixth time in row.
• Their best result in the competition came in 2012 when they finished third behind United States (winner) and Brazil (runners-up).
• Turkey have won five of their previous six opening matches at the World Grand Prix, only failing to do so in 2015 (3-0 against Belgium).
Serbia• Serbia have participated in the World Grand Prix on six previous occasions, all in the last six editions.
• Their best finish in the competition is a third place which they managed in both 2011 and 2013.
• Serbia finished in eighth place in the last three editions of the World Grand Prix.
• Serbia won their last four matches in last year's competition. Only once they have set a longer winning streak in the World Grand Prix – their last match in 2012 followed by the first five in 2013 (6 total).