JAP Erika Araki (11) breaks down the three men block from Brazil

Tokyo, Japan, August 23, 2009: Olympic champions Brazil won their eighth FIVB World Grand Prix title with a perfect 5-0 record by beating Japan 3-1 in the last match of the Final Round at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Sunday evening.

In front of 10,000 spectators for the 15th and final match of the five-day, six-team round-robin, Brazil won 25-21, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19 to retain their Grand Prix crown in style.

Japan made them work hard for the Final Round sweep, however, even though they ended with a 1-4 record.

Brazil winner of the 17th WGP

Head Coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes: It was a very difficult game today. Japan played very well and their serves were very aggressive. Japan has become stronger and stronger game by game and is a big threat to us.

Captain Dani Lins: I knew this match would be tough because Japan is different from other teams, especially blocking and service. It was difficult for us because the Japanese team plays a very different style to us. I am really glad to have won the gold medal.

(left to right) Tatiana Kosheleva (best spiker), Yoshie Takeshita (best setter), Sheila Castro (MVP), Manon Flier (best scorer and server), Kersten Tzscherlich (best libero) and Fabiana Claudino (best blocker)

Information and Photo from FIVB.com

Tokyo, Japan, August 21, 2009: Russia recovered from losing the first set to beat China 3-1 in the first match on the third day of the FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Friday afternoon.

The world champions beat China 27-29, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23 to improve their win-loss record to 2-1. China dropped to 0-3 with two games to play. 

CHINA

Head Coach Cai Bin: We lost the game again, but my players did their best. We felt a lot of pressure against Russia over the net, and we could not block No. 15 (Kosheleva), whose spike was very good. Also we could not stop Gamova, who was strong from both sides. That is the reason why we lost today. Our serve and serve reception did not work well, and when the ball was in a rally we could not win the point. We want to make adjustments in the mistakes we made today.

information and Photo from FIVB.com