China made an easy through to the semifinals of the women's
volleyball tournament in the Asian Games.
Without sending their regular starters on court, the former
World Cup and Olympic title holder took the match 25-13, 25-6, 26-6
in less than an hour.
Mongolia, opening the second set in a sluggish way, was deprived
of all the three points while trailing 13-3, after the referees
found them in wrong positions for three straight serving
rounds.
What followed just proved the defending champions too strong to
their opponents. Mongolia took two out of their six points in the
third set through their own efforts and the others from unforced
errors by Chinese with Chu Jinling and Xu Yunli each serving
directly into the net.
The youngster-packed Mongolia even made a silly mistake as they
sent a player wearing a shirt numbered 21, which had to be covered
with a piece of white cloth, while 18 is the biggest number
permitted to show on the volleyball floor.
Xu Yunli, 19, had 13 points to lead China to its fourth straight
victory in the 14-day tournament, and libero Zhang Ping and
attacker Wang Yimei added 11 and 7 points respectively.
China have extended their winning streak in Doha without losing
a set, and set up a semi-final clash on Sunday against the winners
between Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan.
(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2006)