Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 15, 2016 - Hosts Brazil will try to outplay Asian giant China to claim the last available spot in the semifinals of the women’s volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Cheered by a sell-out crowd at the Maracanazinho on Tuesday evening, the Brazilians and the Chinese will lock horns in the last quarterfinal for the day.
This will be the 60th encounter between the two teams in a major international tournament. Brazil have won 37 of their matches with China.
They have played against each other at six different Olympic Games – Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. China won the first two of these games; Brazil – the next four. The last of these matches four years ago was an exciting five-setter, which ended at 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 25-18, 28-30, 15-10) to the South American side.
On June 19 of this year, in an FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2016 fixture in Macau, China beat Brazil in straight sets - 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-20).
Brazil are still unbeaten at Rio 2016 winning all their five matches in Pool A in straight sets to qualify for the quarterfinals with an impeccable record.
Their most prolific player in the tournament so far is Natalia Pereira. She has 66 points on her tally and ranks 12th among the best scorers at Rio 2016.
China finished fourth in Pool B with two victories, three defeats and seven points.
Zhu Ting is currently third among the best scorers of the tournament with 93 points. She is also the best spiker of the pool stage with an attack efficiency rate of 45.45%.