China loses to Italy 1-3 in 2017 FIVB Grand Prix Finals

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Italy beat China 3-1 in a semifinal in the 2017 Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Grand Prix in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, and set up a final clash against defending champion Brazil in the final.

China is expected to compete with Serbia for the third place on Sunday, after the latter was eliminated 1-3 by Brazil.

Despite a right wrist injury in the second round, China's ace attacker Zhu Ting had 21 points to lead the Chinese team, Zhang Changning and Liu Xiaotong added 13 and 10 respectively.

Photo by CNS

China's head coach An Jiajie said that the loss of China is a good lesson for the young players.

"Today we played not good enough. We won the first set because the Italians committed too many mistakes," commented An, "I told the players to put pressure on offense but obviously they didn't do it well."

"This is a lesson for the young players, as well as a lesson for me." said An, who took the place of head coach as Lang Ping was under the recovery of knees surgery.

Zhu Ting later confirmed that she did not suffer any serious injury in the wrist, and is still confident with the match on Sunday.

Photo by CNS‍

Italy will make their third World Grand Prix finals appearance and will look to improve on their two second-place finishes in 2004 and 2005.

"It is a great opportunity for us to play the final again in the Grand Prix," said Davide Mazzanti, head coach of Italy, "Today we made some mistakes, but the players played with great attitude. It is a great opportunity to play Brazil again in the Grand Prix."

Brazil will defend their title in the World Grand Prix. They have previously won the World Grand Prix 11 times and have been runners-up for five times.

(With inputs from Xinhua)

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