Osaka, Japan, 5 October 2018 - Rio 2014 Olympic champions China go head-to-head Sunday at the 2018 FIVB World Championship in a rematch of the 2018 Asian Games final which China won in straight sets. The two sides meet for the third in a World Championship with China having won both previous encounters. In fact, Thailand have only beaten China twice in an FIVB competition, at the 2011 and 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix.
Head-to-Head• China and Thailand will meet for the third time at the World Championships.
• China won the previous meetings, both in the first round, 3-0 in 1998 and 3-1 in 2002.
• Thailand have won two of their 20 major world level encounters with China: 3-1 at the 2011 World Grand Prix and 3-2 at the 2012 World Grand Prix.
• The women's major world level competitions are: the Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and the Nations League.
• This is a repeat of the final at the 2018 Asian Games. China won 3-0 in Jakarta, claiming their eighth gold medal in the competition.
China• China won their opening four matches of the 2018 World Championship before falling to Italy (3-1).
• China have lost back-to-back only once in their last 35 World Championship matches, versus Italy and Brazil in 2014.
• China have won each of their last three World Championship fixtures that went into a fifth set.
• Ting Zhu is China's leading points scorer in this tournament on 87 points.
Thailand• Thailand have won three and lost two matches at the 2018 World Championship.
• Three of their five matches in this tournament went into a fifth set (W1-L2). These were Thailand's first five-setters at the World Championships.
• Thailand could win successive matches at the World Championships for the second time, after back-to-back wins versus Kazakhstan and Croatia in 2010.
• Thailand can record four victories at a single World Championship for the second time after 2010 (4).
• Pleumjit Thinkaow leads her team in terms of scoring this tournament, on 63 points. Ajcharaporn Kongyot follows on 60 points.