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Women's volleyball: Brazil stunned, US unscarred

Xinhua, August 2, 2012

• Defending champions Brazil were stunned by South Korea in straight sets, while another title favorite United States stayed unbeaten in the women's volleyball tournament of London Olympics on Wednesday.

  Wing spiker Kim Yeon-Koung steered the Koreans past the Brazilians 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 with 21 points. The Koreans played successful fast attack with delicate organization by setter and captain Kim Sa-Nee, while the Brazilians committed too many errors.

  "We lost because of Korea's excellent blocking and the precision of their serves. We have just got to be both more energetic and aggressive in our play," said Brazil's star player, opposite hitter Sheilla Castro.

  Wednesday's fiasco cast a shadow over Brazil's outlook for quarterfinals. The team was ranked the fifth of the six-team Pool B with two losses. However, the Brazilians keep their confidence alive.

  "We made a lot of mistakes, but it is not time yet to panic. We know the situation is poor because we have lost the last two matches, but there is still time to correct our mistakes. We are still alive," said wing spiker Paula Pequeno.

  While Brazil was striving to enter the top 8, the United States proved their world No. 1 strength by beating China 3-0 to register their third win.

  The Chinese, once champions in 2004 Athens Games and bronze medal winner in Beijing Games, lost the match 24-26, 16-25, 29-31, in front of the Americans' mighty attacks.

  Wing spikers Destinee Hooker and Megan Hodge were both on top form for USA, who gave China major problems. Hookers stored the highest 22 points and China's young opposite hitter Zeng Chunlei, a surprising substitution when China was in inferiority, took 10 points for China.

  "Despite the loss, I'm satisfied with the performances of my girls tonight. The U.S. team is the strongest team of our group. We missed some opportunities to win in every set, because we still have problems to manage some key moments," said China's head coach Yu Juemin.

  With the third win, the Americans booked a berth of the quarterfinals in advance, while China kept the hope to advance into top 8 with two wins over Serbia and Turkey previously.

  In another match of Pool B, desperate Turkey, who suffered two losses, upset Serbia 3-0 to keep their chance for quarterfinals alive, while it turns extremely difficult for the Serbians to advance to the knockout stage without one victory.

  In Pool A, Japan beat Dominican Republic 25-20, 25-19, 25-23 as the Dominican Republic made more than twice as many as Japan. Russia upset Algeria 25-7, 25-14, 25-15 to top the group with three wins.

  Ruthless Italy defeat the host Great Britain in straight sets to take the second place in the group standing.

  Twelve women's teams are divided into two groups in the preliminary round of the Olympic tournament in London that run through July 28 to August 11.The top four teams to emerge out of each pool will play the quarterfinals.

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