World Grand Prix champions China rallied past the United States
in a five-set thriller in Osaka, Japan Thursday for their ninth
straight win at the 2003 women's volleyball World Cup.
The Chinese women moved closer to their first World Cup title in
18 years with the 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 25-20 and 15-11 victory in
one hour and 51 minutes. With only two matches remaining in the
round-robin tournament, China has virtually secured a top three
finish and a spot in the Athens Olympics in 2004 due to their
superior set ratio.
"It was a really tough match, fortunately we had made good
preparation before it," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe.
"Confidence helped us win through. Our players did not
panic when we were 2-1 down and we fought back together to clinch
the victory," Chen added.
The United States' Japanese head coach Toshiaki Yoshida was
obviously disappointed after his side' second loss at the
tournament.
"Both teams played very well today, the Chinese team performed
good offensive plays in the fifth set," Yoshida said. "We did not
prepare well in crucial times by making several unforced
errors."
The Americans were once 6-4 up in the tiebreaker, but China
staged a 5-0 run from then on to grab the lead and never looked
back.
"Generally speaking, our team is inferior to the Chinese team
and we have to improve in every aspect to catch up with them,"
Yoshida added.
China started strongly. They established a comfortable
19-12 lead in the first set on back of their famed blitz attack and
went on to take the opener.
The Americans, who lost all three encounters with China earlier
this year, fought back in the second set. They successfully
destroyed China's receiving with high quality services, which
greatly affected the speed of Chinese attack, and pulled one set
back at 25-20.
The third set was even more hotly contested while China
squandered a 19-17 lead before drawing with the Americans at 24-24.
After Logan Tom gave the United States a 25-24 advantage with a
smash, Chinese Yang Hao drove a ball long to concede the set.
"The United States played very well today, especially in defense
and counter-attack," Chen said. "Our players were kind of impatient
in the second and third sets when they (the United States)
destroyed our receiving."
China improved their receiving and defense in the fourth set.
They raced to a 7-1 lead and coasted to the victory in the set,
forcing the tiebreaker.
Zhou Suhong led four Chinese in double digits with 20 points.
Zhao Ruirui, Yang Hao and Liu Ya'nan added 19, 16 and 13 points
respectively.
Twelve teams are competing at the tournament with top
three finishers to qualify for the Athens Olympics.
(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2003)
