Chinese Taipei continued their excellent performance in the
women's event at the world volleyball championships yesterday,
beating African champions Kenya for their second straight win.
The Taipei squad, which posted a historic first-ever win over
hosts Japan on Tuesday, moved a step forward towards the next stage
of the tournament with a 25-13, 25-9, 29-27 win in the six-team
Pool A round robin.
"For us, every match is a challenge in this tournament. We
prepared for today's match as well. It was a good experience to
play against Kenya," said Taipei's captain Chen Shu-li.
European champions Poland, who needed four sets to beat Kenya on
Tuesday, were stretched the distance before beating South Korea,
25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 23-25, 15-12, to post a 2-0 record.
"We were really concentrating well throughout the fight, because
we know the Korean team. We played them in the Grand Prix and we
lost 2-3, so we really wanted to win today's match," said Polish
captain Joanna Mirek.
Coach Klos Ireneusz said: "It's a pity we couldn't finish the
match in the fourth set when we had the score 21-17. Obviously my
players didn't concentrate well, but all five sets were very
dramatic, so I'm very, very happy."
In other action, favourites Brazil and Russia remained unbeaten,
while Serbia and Montenegro, who stunned defending champions Italy
on Tuesday, did it again, beating three-time world champions Cuba
25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23.
"We know only Costa Rica were ranked below us in this
tournament, but nevertheless we were convinced that this was not a
real picture of the situation," Serbian coach Zoran Terzic
said.
The Brazilians, who have dominated South American play in the
past six years and the World Grand Prix in the past three years,
outgunned Asian silver medallists Kazakhstan 25-17, 25-13, 25-16 in
Pool C in Kobe.
Sydney and Athens Olympic silver medallists Russia prevailed
over Azerbaijan in four sets, 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20, while
Germany outplayed Mexico 25-18, 25-21, 25-19 in Pool B in
Sapporo.
In Pool D in Nagoya with Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey defeated
two-time former African champions Egypt, 25-11, 25-12, 25-8.
Later yesterday, China eased past Dominican Republic 25-19,
25-17, 25-23.
(China Daily?November 2, 2006)