"We can see they still played high-quality volleyball, they still showed motivation, determination and teamwork.

"Though not at their best, they are on track to regain their prime form."

As expected, the 1.97 m Zhao, who used to be one of the world's best spikers, is rediscovering her skills step by step.

She showed steady progress at the FIVB Grand Prix in Ningbo last month compared to her performance at the Swiss Volleyball Masters.

Competing in all three matches, Zhao was overwhelming at the net and helped China secure wins over each of its opponents, most impressively over major Olympic title contender Brazil. Zhao scored 22 points in that come-from-behind victory.

Brazil's head coach Jose Guimaraes was full of praise for Zhao and believes she increases China's chance of defending its gold medal in August.

"Zhao is the most impressive player on the court," Guimaraes said. "She is the best on the China team. She is tall and shows speed. It's very difficult to score over her block."

China continued its winning run behind Zhao in Hong Kong, with big wins over Olympic group rivals Japan and Cuba.

Despite losing to Brazil in the Macau leg last weekend, China's 8-1 record in the preliminary stage qualified it for the Grand Prix finals, which begin today in Japan.

In the Grand Prix preliminaries Zhao was ranked seventh in the scoring, first in spiking and sixth in blocking.

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