Defending champion Italy and Brazil will be the favorites when the Women's World Volleyball Championships start in Japan today.
Italy is bidding to the defend the title it won in Germany four years ago but arrives in Japan with new coach Massimo Barbolini, who has only been on the job since September.
Brazil won a fourth straight World Grand Prix title in September and is hopeful of adding a world championship title to its haul.
"I think we are in good shape, but we have a very hard group," Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guim-araes told the FIVB Web site. "The United States, Netherlands and Puerto Rico are all very strong teams."
The women's tournament will be played in Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya and Sapporo, with 24 teams divided into four groups. The top four teams in each group advance to the second round.
Among the other top contenders in the women's event are Russia, China and Cuba.
Russia took second place at this year's World Grand Prix under head coach Giovanni Caprara.
China defeated Russia at the Olympic Games in Athens to win its second Olympic gold.
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