Bari, Italy, June 14, 2016 - Italy play at home in Bari against an ambitious team, which will host the finals in FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2016 Group 1, and will do their best to please their home fans with a precious win.
Head-to-Head
• This will be the eighth meeting between Thailand and Italy at the World Grand Prix, with Italy winning all previous seven matches.
• Their most recent meeting in the competition came on 9 August 2014, when Italy won in straight sets.
• Thailand have only played more World Grand Prix matches against Brazil (11) and Russia (9) without winning a single match.
• Thailand and Italy already played against each other in 2016 at the World Olympic Qualification tournament in Tokyo. Italy won 3-1 and ultimately qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio, Thailand finished in fifth place, failing to qualify for Rio.
Thailand
• Thailand started their World Grand Prix campaign with two defeats against China and United States (both 3-0), but they have won their last match against Germany (3-1).
• They could win consecutive World Grand Prix matches for the first time since 2013, when they defeated Algeria and Cuba.
• Ajcharaporn Kongyot scored a team high 47 points in the first three matches. No other player scored more than 23.
Italy
• Italy lost their opening match at the 2016 World Grand Prix against Brazil (3-1), but have won their last two matches against Serbia (3-1) and Japan (3-2).
• Italy could win three consecutive World Grand Prix matches for the first time since July 2015, when they beat Belgium, Turkey and Japan.
• Paola Ogechi Egonu, with 17 years the youngest player in Italy's squad, has scored most points for Italy at this year's World Grand Prix (46).