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TOKYO: Beijing Olympic gold medallists Brazil on Friday powered past Germany in the final round to maintain their impressive winning streak in the World Grand Prix women's volleyball tournament.
The Brazilians, who finished top in the three qualifying weeks with nine straight wins and no defeats, coasted to a 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 victory, a third successive win in the final round.
"Everything went very well with us, including tactics, serves, defence and blocking," said Brazilian captain Danielle Lins.
"This is a completely new team from the Olympics. I and Natalia (Pereira) were not the starting players in Beijing and eight of us are new. I feel this new team is getting better and better day by day."
The top five teams after the three qualifying weeks and hosts Japan are competing in the six-team round robin final round, with defending champions Brazil eyeing a record eighth title.
World champions Russia avenged their loss in Ningbo three weeks ago by beating Athens Olympic gold medallists China 27-29, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23, while Japan upset the Netherlands 25-22, 25-18, 25-22.
Russian coach Vladimir Kuzyutkin, however, was not a happy man.
"I'm satisfied with the win, but I'm not satisfied with our performance. We can play better and we must play much better than today," said Kuzyutkin.
"It is not that we won because we played well, but we won because the Chinese didn't play well."
Chinese coach Cai Bin said his side struggled with Russian attacker Tatyana Kosheleva, the team's highest scorer with 30 points.
"We couldn't check her enough, allowing her to hit spikes as she wanted to do. She did a great job today. Besides, we made too many errors because our team is still young," said Cai.
"My players have been tired physically after the three qualifying weeks, while the level of the top teams are very close now. I'm not confident to beat those top teams right now. The experiences of the teams make the difference."
Chinese captain Wei Qiuyue denied that the team has lost confidence.
"Although we haven't won in three matches this week, all our opponents were strong. It is not that we lost confidence because of the defeats, we came here to challenge strong teams," Wei said.
The final round concludes on Sunday, with the side that finishes top of the pile taking the title.
Brazil head the group with a 100 percent record, a point ahead of Russia and the Netherlands. - AFP/de
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