Osaka, Japan, October 9, 2018 - Pool F leaders Italy take on fourth-placed Russia in Osaka on Wednesday.
Head-to-Head· Italy and Russia (incl. predecessors) meet for the sixth time at the World Championship.
· Russia won the first four World Championship encounters, in 1986 (as Soviet Union), 1994, 2002 and 2006. Italy won the most recent meeting in the competition, 3-1 in the 2014 third round.
· Italy have won five of their 28 major world level meetings with Russia (incl. predecessors), most recently at the 2017 World Grand Prix (3-2).
· Their most recent world level encounter took place at the 2018 Nations League. Russia won 3-0 in the group stage.
· The women's world level major competitions are: the Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and the Nations League.
Italy· Italy have claimed seven wins from seven matches at the 2018 World Championship. They conceded only 42 points in their 3-0 win against Thailand on Monday.
· Italy won six of their seven matches at the 2018 World Championship in straight sets, with a 3-1 win over China being the only exception.
· Italy could win eight successive World Championship matches for the first time since eight in a row in 2006.
· Italy have claimed at least eight wins at each of their four World Championships in this century, with 10 wins in 2014 as their best year.
· Paola Ogechi Egonu is Italy's top scorer on 120 points.
· Anna Danesi (23) and Russia's Irina Fetisova (27 points) and Irina Koroleva (23 points) have scored most points from stuff blocks.
Russia· Russia's win against Bulgaria on Monday was their 125th win in their 150th match at the World Championships (including as Soviet Union).
· Russia now have a W6-L1 record at the 2018 World Championship.
· Russia's six wins in 2018 are equal to their six wins in total in the 2014 tournament, when they had a W6-L5 record. They won 11 matches in 2010.
· Four of Russia's six wins have come in straight sets. The last time they claimed more wins in straight sets was in 2010 (5).
· Nataliya Goncharova is still Russia's top scorer on 119 points. Kseniia Parubets is on 101 points.