Japanese W NT
Title holders Brazil have one of the worst-ever Grand Prix openings with 3-3, losing second consecutive game in Week 2 of the tournament in Sendai, Japan. In Pool D1, the hosts repeated what another Asian team Thailand did a day before and downed Brazilian NT, although much more difficult, 3-2 (25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 20-25, 17-15). Believe it or not, the ladies coached by ’Zé Roberto’ lost to Japan despite having 22-9 domination in blocking (Adenízia da Silva made 6)! Risa Shinnabe shined in Japan with 22 points while Rosamaria Montibeller had 19 on the other side.
In the same pool, Serbia returned to the top of the rankings by achieving second triumph in a row. The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalists outclassed Thailand 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-16, 25-19) to close Week 2 with 2-1, having 5-1 overall. Serbia had monster serving display (10-1 in aces) with Bojana Živković making 5 of them. Brankica Mihajlović, Grand Prix’s MVP of Week 1, scored 20 points (5 kill blocks) for the winners. Ajcharaporn Kongyot collected 13 for the Thai NT.
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