Yokohama, Japan, October 18, 2018 - China will look to add another FIVB Volleyball World Championship finals appearance under their belt, as they face Italy in the semifinals on Friday in Yokohama Arena.
2018 FIVB Women's World Championship semifinals:
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China v Italy•
Serbia v NetherlandsHead-to-head• Earlier in this tournament, Italy defeated China 3-1. On 4 October, both teams came in having won their first four matches in the tournament. Italy dealt China their first, and thus far only defeat of the tournament.
• Paola Egonu paced Italy in that match on 29 points, with none of her teammates contributing more than 15 points.
• China won their first five meetings with Italy at World Championships, but have won only one of the last four.
• That victory came in the 2014 semifinals, when China won 3-1. It was their second semifinal tie at the World Championship, after 2002 when Italy won 3-1 and went on to win the world title.
• Italy have won their last four world level major encounters with China. They have never beaten China five times in a row.
• The women's world level major competitions are: the Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and the Volleyball Nations League.
China• China are aiming to reach the World Championship final for the sixth time. They won the gold medal in 1982 and 1986 and finished runners-up in 1990, 1998 and 2014.
• China have a 5-1 track record in semifinal matches at World Championships. Their only defeat at this stage of the tournament came in 2002, against Italy.
• China have won 10 of their 11 matches in this tournament, the only exception being their 3-1 defeat against Italy in the first round.
• China could win 11 matches at a single World Championship for the first time. In 2014, they won 10 of their 13 matches.
• China could win seven consecutive World Championship matches for the second time in the last 25 years. In 2014, China won eight consecutive matches.
• Zhu Ting has scored 191 points at the 2018 World Championship, third-most of all players behind Paola Egonu (246) and Lonneke Sloëtjes (238).
• Only Italy's Ofelia Malinov (4.79 on average per set) ranks as a better setter in this tournament than China's Ding Xia (4.38).
Italy• Italy have reached the final of the World Championship only once. In 2002, they defeated China in the semifinals and pushed on to win their only world title so far.
• Italy lost their other two semifinal matches at World Championships, against Russia in 2006 and against China four years ago.
• Italy are coming off their only defeat of this tournament, 3-1 against Serbia in the Final Six.
• Four years ago, Italy closed out their World Championship campaign with back-to-back defeats, against China in the semifinals and against Brazil in the bronze medal match. Italy had lost only one of their first 11 in the 2014 tournament.
• Paola Egonu is the tournament's leading points scorer on 246.
• In terms of success rate, Miryam Sylla (52.34%) is the second-best spiker in the tournament, behind Serbia's Tijana Boskovic (56.39%).
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