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| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 15, 2001 |
China Drives for Second Straight Victory |
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China put itself into the driving seat with the second straight victory, beating the United States 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22) on Wednesday in the 2001 World Grand Champions Cup women's event in Saitama.
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China put itself into the driving seat with the second straight victory, beating the United States 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22) on Wednesday in the 2001 World Grand Champions Cup women's event in Saitama.
The Asian champion is 2-0 now atop on the standings after it handled off defending champion Russia 3-1 on Tuesday. "A win today could put us into a quite positive position in thetournament, so my players were nervous," Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe said.
U.S. head coach Toshiaki Yoshida said, "China played better than we expected. We had big problems on receives and servings. Wewill find out the reason." Reigning champion Russia was labored to pull down a victory on Wednesday when the Olympic silver medalist needed five-set marathon to oust Brazil, 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 28-30, 25-16, 15-10).
"My players had a better game than that of Tuesday, but we still didn't play in the best form," Russian head coach Nikolai Karpol said.
The Chinese new team, which has a complete different squad fromthe one in the Sydney Olympics, proved it is better than the one that finished fifth in Sydney, Australia, last year.
Beating the Americans is a sweet revenge of the 3-1 loss for China in this year's World Grand Prix final in Macao, China.
"We had some difficult time when we lost the patience on attack.Players complaint each other on the court, and that cost us a lot. Fortunately we managed to calm down and got we wanted," Chen said.
China was not intimated by America's attacking combination of Danielle Scott and Therese Crawford, snatching down the critical third set by 25-22 with a 6-0 scoring run after the two splitting the first two sets.
In the roaster-and-coaster fourth set, the Chinese were down firstly again before they popped up to maintain a 2-point lead after 21-19, which ensured them the good of the game.
"It's a tough match. Everything could happen when you had only two or three point lead down the stretch. My players didn't do quite well and they need time to learn how to cope with the hard time," Chen added.
The victory gave a 1-1 record to Russia, the only team among the world's elite that stuck with the same squad as that of the Sydney Olympics, to hang on in the round-robin tournament, while Brazil is now 0-2 and at the bottom of the standings.
In the do-or-die face-off, Russia could not get into the game until it was on the verge of the cliff.
The European champion squandered three chances to take the critical third set after 1-1. Tying it at 24-24, Flavia Carvalho put Brazil ahead with a serving point, and held onto the advantageto make it 2-1.
But Russia found the rhythm after that, taking a quick win in the following set to level the match, and built up a 10-6 lead in the decisive fifth set.
The world tallest front-court line-up, 2.01-meter Ekaterina Gamova and 1.94-meter Elena Godina, stepped in then to prove theirstrength with complete domination over the net to give Russia the victory. "We had a new setter after the GP. It takes time for my players to have more communication and better understandings with each other," Karpol said. "After the third set, my players could not concentrate on the match and let it loose," said Brazil's head coach Marco Aurello Motta.
"We lost 8 points on servings in the 4th set. Russia had better blocks after that and we just could not have the strikes wehad earlier in the match."
Host nation Japan made an amazing run to cherish with the second win after it subdued arch-rival South Korea 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19) in game 3 of Day 2, Wednesday night. Japan, who toppled Brazil in straight sets, now tops the six-team standings as it won six sets and lost one after two matches, with China trailing at the second place with 6-2.
Wednesday's match was a typical Japan-South Korea tie, which saw a couple of spectacular digs and saves throughout the match but neither side has apparent edge on offence. South Korea took an early lead of the match but soon found it mission impossible to beat the host in the deafening sound from 13,100 audiences in the Saitama Super Arena, who screamed and yelled every time the Japanese players touched the ball.
Frustrated by a blunder at the end of the third set which cost them the set, the South Koreans committed a series of mistakes in the fourth before the Japanese put the game beyond doubt by leading as many as 19-11.
The tournament will be moved to Fukuoka on 16 November when Russia vies the U.S., South Korea takes on Brazil, and Japan meetsChina.
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