Brazil's record seventh title

Brazil powered past Japan in straight sets on Sunday to win the World Grand Prix women's volleyball tournament for a record seventh time.
The Brazilians, who were runners-up in the World Cup last year, silenced a vociferous home crowd with a 25-23, 25-23, 25-19 victory -- giving them a perfect 5-0 record in the six-team round robin competition.
Brazil won the World Grand Prix title in 1994, 1996, 1998 and from 2004-2006.
"After we defeated Cuba yesterday, I had expected us to win the tournament, but it was not an easy match today -- we had to keep our concentration really well," said Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes.
"Our blocking was good, but we made too many mistakes in counter-attacks. We have to improve a lot before the Beijing Olympics. Our goal is to win the Olympics," he added.
Marianne Steinbrecher won the tournament's most valuable player award.
"It was our last match here. I couldn't concentrate as well as I did yesterday, but I feel relieved that we won this last match and the title as well," said Steinbrecher.
"The Olympic Games will begin soon. All the top teams here will try to win the gold medal... Hopefully, we can beat the pressure and keep our concentration at a high level."
Earlier in the day, former world champions Cuba defeated World Cup holders Italy 28-30, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 to finish second with a 4-1 record. Italy finished third at 2-3.
"We couldn't play our game yesterday against Brazil because of their strong serves, but today our serves worked very well against Italy's attacks," said Cuban coach Antonio Perdomo Estrella.
Italian coach Massimo Barbolini said: "This Grand Prix was very, very positive, important for the experience, for the players, for me to see some situation to improve against a strong team."
"Finishing third, it's a very, very good result for the Italian team," he added.
The United States edged past reigning Olympic gold medallists China 25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 17-15 to finish the tournament in fourth place.
Japan and China both finished with a 1-4 record, with the Chinese edging the home team for fifth place thanks to a better points ratio.