Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, June 18, 2016 – Czech Republic will hope their form against China continues when they welcome the Asian side to their shores in the FIVB Volleyball World League on Saturday.
Head-to-Head
· China and Czech Republic (including Czechoslovakia) will meet each other for the eighth time. Czech Republic have won six of the previous seven meetings, only losing at the 1998 World Championship.
· This is the first World League meeting between these nations as all previous seven were at World Championships.
· The most recent meeting was at the 2010 World Championships, when Czech Republic won 3-1 in the first round.
· Czech Republic have faced AVC opposition 16 times at the World League, winning 12 and losing four times.
China
· China lost 3-0 against Canada in their 2016 World League opening match.
· China could start a World League campaign with two straight defeats for the first time since 2010.
· China have now lost their last three World League matches and could lose four in a row for the first time in the competition since a six-match losing streak in 2010.
· Only Canada's Graham Vigrass (15) scored more points in China's 3-0 defeat than Dai Qingyao (13).
Czech Republic
· Czech Republic lost their 2016 World League opening match in five sets against Egypt.
· It was Czech Republic's 10th five setter in World League history, but only their first 3-2 defeat.
· Czech Republic have now both won and lost 21 matches at the World League.
· Czech Republic could lose their opening two matches of a World League campaign for the first time since 2003, when they kicked off with two defeats against France.
· Michal Finger scored a team-high 18 points in Czech Republic's 3-2 loss against Egypt, ahead of teammate Donovan Dzavoronok (17).