Published on : 03/08/2024

On August 3, 2003, the Chinese women's volleyball team won the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix for the first time.

The final leg of the 11th FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was held in Italy. It was the 5th round of the finals, and China once again faced the traditional powerhouse Russia.

In the preliminary round, China had been defeated consecutively by Brazil and Russia, but only managed to finish 3rd in the group thanks to a higher points difference than Brazil, who had the same points.

As both China and Russia had won all four previous matches, this match would thus determine the champion.

In the 90-minute match, the Chinese women's volleyball team took full advantage of its strengths of speed and adaptability, contending with the Russian women's volleyball team through team effort.

They finally won 25-22, 28-26, 25-21. Not only did they reverse their previous defeat, but they also historically won the FIVB Volleyball Grand Prix for the first time.

Overall, the Chinese women's volleyball team performed very well in this competition, winning 8 out of 10 matches.

In the individual skills ranking, many players from the Chinese women's volleyball team made the list. Among them, Zhao Ruirui (趙蕊蕊), Yang Hao (楊昊), and Liu Yanan (劉亞男) successfully made it into the top 10 in total scoring.