Poland whitewashed China 3-0 in straight sets to claim the
victory of the opener of the men's volleyball World Championships
on Friday.
Michal Winiarski scored a game-high 15 points, 11 out of spikes
and 3 blocks, as Poland stormed to a 25-21, 25-20, 25-21 in 63
minutes to take the win in the Group A.
Despite some brilliant play in the three sets, China had to
suffer the defeat in their first match in the tournament.
"We prepared well for the match against Poland," said Zhou
Jian'an, head coach of China, "and our players were quite good on
the court. But Poland was a little bit better than us, especially
in blocking."
Poland had 10 success blocks while China had only 2.
The match witnessed a seesaw situation as the lead changed hands
several times in all three sets.
But Poland could always launch a scoring trend in the last few
minutes to finish every set.
"Poland was better than us, especially in the last moment of
every set, they caught every chance to win the game," explained
Zhou.
The 24 teams are split into four groups of six teams, and the
top four teams will enter the second round of the tournament.
(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2006)