Defending champion China revived the confidence after an inspiring 3-0 win over another Asian powerhouse Japan in women's volleyball on Sunday night.
It only took the host 67 minutes to finish the game 26-24, 25-16 and 25-14. The victory came right in time for China after losing both 3-2 to Cuba and the United States in the last two matches.
"It's really hard to rebuild confidence after two straight losses. Some experienced players cried after the matches," said China's head coach Chen Zhonghe. "Today's win is very important for us to rebuild our confidence and spirit. I hope they will be strong enough to carry on."
However, the coach also admitted that setting now became the "Achilles' heel" of the defending champion, who targeted a medal in Beijing.
"It's hard for us to organize smooth attack due to the unstable performances of the setters, which cost us dearly at big points, so we have to resolve this problem as soon as possible," he told Xinhua.
Holding 3-2 win-loss record, the host finished the third in Pool A, while the Japanese trailed after winning two of the five preliminaries.
Both of the two teams virtually have been given qualification to the final eight club in advance after the United States rallied past Poland in five sets in another Pool A match earlier in the afternoon.
Standing at the fifth of the group with a 1-4 win-loss record, the Europeans ended their Olympic campaign as only top four of six teams went to the next round.
In another Pool A matche of the day, three-time Olympic champion Cuba handed out another lesson to its "student" Venezuela, who have been training with them for a long time, to win the "friendly match" 25-20, 25-20, 25-19.
With a clean winning sheet, Cuba finished the preliminaries to top Pool A, followed by the U.S., China, Japan, Poland and Venezuela. As only the top four of the six-team group to make the quarterfinals, Poland and Olympic debutant Venezuela in the same group finished their Olympic campaign.
In Pool B, Brazil, Italy, Russia and Serbia secured a final eight berth as top four of Pool B, while Kazakhstan and Algeria were blocked off from the quarterfinals.
The world No. 1 Brazil thrashed World Cup winner Italy 25-16, 25-22 and 25-17 at the Capital Gymnasium to finish top of pool B with five straight clean sweeps, showing great potential for its first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Italy will join Brazil in the quarterfinals after finishing second in pool B with four wins against one loss.
In another two Pool B matches, Athens Games runners-up Russia showed its real quality to crush Serbia 25-21, 25-16 and 25-20 to stand the third in the group and Serbia followed behind to take the fourth place.
According to the competition format, Pool A No. 1 Cuba will play Pool B fourth Serbia in the quarterfinals, while Brazil will face Japan. The other two matches, involving China, Italy, Russia and the U.S., will be subject to draw.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2008)