Olympic champion China pulled off its first win in the World women's volleyball Grand Prix on Saturday by defeating the Netherlands 3-1.

The Chinese women, already beaten by Cuba and Italy here, came back from a set down to win 21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 in the six-team round-robin competition.

Earlier Saturday, world champion Italy outplayed Cuba 25-18, 21-25, 32-30, 25-15 to remain unbeaten in three matches.

"I was very nervous at the beginning, but we improved our game as the match went on and Cuba seemed to give up. I'm very satisfied with the result," said Italy's Sara Anzanello, who scored 15 points including a service winner.

Cuba's coach Luis Felipe Calderon said: "Italy played their best today. I think they will win the Grand Prix. We didn't play as well as we did against China and Brazil."

China and Cuba have a 1-2 win-loss record and the Netherlands 0-3.

Editor: Donald