Yokohama, Japan, September 29, 2018 – Argentina are seeking for their first ever opening match win, facing hosts Japan in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.
Head-to-Head
• Argentina and Japan have faced each other at the World Championship once before - Japan won 3-0 in 1960, and conceded only six points in that match, 15-2, 15-0, 15-4.
• In total, Japan have won all eight matches against Argentina at world level major tournaments, winning seven of these matches in straight sets.
• World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.
• Japan beat Argentina 3-0 in the 2018 Nations League. Risa Shinnabe (15) and Ai Kurogo (14) were Japan's top scorers in this match.
• Agnes Victoria Michel Tosi (11) and Agostina Denisse Soria (10) scored most points for Argentina in that 3-0 loss.
Argentina• Argentina are making their sixth appearance at the World Championship.
• Including 2018, Japan have hosted the World Championship a record five times, but this is first time Argentina are present at a World Championship held in Japan.
• Argentina finished 17th the last two times they played at the World Championship, in 2002 and in 2014. Their highest rank is an eighth place finish in 1960.
• Argentina lost four matches at the World Championship in 2014 before finishing their campaign with a 3-0 win against Tunisia.
• Argentina could now begin a World Championship with a win for the first time.
• Argentina won one of their 14 matches in the Nations League in 2018, but that win came against Asian opposition - 3-0 versus Korea Republic.
• Anahi Florencia Tosi was Argentina top scorer in the Nations League on 131 points.
Japan• Japan has finished on the podium of the World Championship seven times, winning three times, finishing runners-up three times and claiming one third place finish.
• Only Russia (includes Soviet Union) have claimed more podium finishes, 13, including seven wins.
• Cuba (3) is the only other team to have won the World Championship at least three times.
• Japan took either gold or silver at six consecutive World Championships from 1960 to 1978. It then had to wait until 2010 before it claimed their last medal to date, a bronze medal on home soil in 2010.
• This is the fifth time Japan are hosting the World Championship, a record. They won the tournament in 1967 as hosts and finished eighth (1998), sixth (2006) and third (2010) the other three times they hosted the competition.
• Japan finished seventh at the World Championship in 2014. Their last match in that tournament was a 3-2 win against Dominican Republic.
• Japan have won 87 matches at the World Championship. Prior to the 2018 World Championship, only Russia (119, including Soviet Union) and Brazil (88) had won more matches.
• Ai Kurogo (158 points) and Yuki Ishii (157) were Japan's top scorers in the Nations League in 2018, in which Japan was ranked 10th after the preliminary round.