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| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 19, 2001 |
Chinese Spikers Capture First Title for 15 years |
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China finished a dream run Sunday to stamp its authority on its first major world volleyball title in 15 years, defeating South American champion Brazil 25:21, 25:17, 21:25 25:23, to keep its perfect record of 5 wins and collect the US$300,000 first prize cheque in the World Grand Champions Cup.
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China Wins World Grand Champions Cup
China finished a dream run Sunday to stamp its authority on its first major world volleyball title in 15 years, defeating South American champion Brazil 25:21, 25:17, 21:25 25:23, to keep its perfect record of 5 wins and collect the US$300,000 first prize cheque in the World Grand Champions Cup.
Russia finished second, Japan third with Brazil, United States and South Korea finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
The young Chinese team, that only dropped 3 sets throughout thetournament, had already claimed the title after a 3-0 defeat of South Korea on Saturday and went into the last day of competition knowing it had an unassailable lead over the other five teams in the single round robin competition.
Russia, Brazil and Japan went into Day 5, the final day competition of the World Grand Champions Cup women's volleyball tournament in Fukuoka, Japan on 6 points, each having a 2:2 win/loss record. United States and South Korea were on 5 points with a1-3 win/loss.
With only second place and the US$150,000 prize at stake, European champion and Olympic silver medallist Russia demolished South Korea 3-0 in Sunday's match, leaving Brazil the task of having to defeat China 3-O to have a chance at the second position. It was too big a task even for the South American champion and Olympic bronze medallist that went down to China in four sets, andwas relegated to fourth position. This set up a classic encounter for the final match between host Japan and United States, a match which was being broadcast live throughout Japan on NHK. The plucky Japanese used the home-ground advantage and 8,200 partisan fans to its best producing another magnificent performance to defeat the NORCECA champion 25:20, 24:26, 25:23, 25:18.
The win gave the host nation third place, Japan's highest finish since its bronze medal at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. Enigmatic Russian coach Nikolai Karpol, who had been at his vocal best throughout the tournament, seemed almost happy at the after match press conference.
"Our team has had a hard time this year with five key members having operations in May and June. The five members, Belikova, Tiourina, Artamonova, Tichtchenco and Gamova, all have great experience, but physically they are not right yet. "So even with this difficult situation, compounded by having only four days training with a new setter before the tournament, we still finished second. I am quite satisfied with the result," he said. "Each player did their best," he added. "China and the USA team are very good and they did a very goodjob at this tournament and Grand Prix, and I would like to congratulate them." "But I believe Cuba and Russia, based on world rankings, are still the best two teams in the world. China do not have much experience, but they are going to be a very strong team," the Russian coach said. Final placings: 1. China US$ 300,000 2. Russia US$ 150,000 3. Japan US$ 125,000 4. Brazil US$ 75,000 5. United States US$ 75,0006. South Korea US$ 50,000
Best Player awards: Most Valuable Player: Yang Hao (China) Best Scorer: Ekaterina Gamova (Russia) Best Attacker: Elizaveta Tichtchenco (Russia) Best Blocker: Ekaterina Gamova (Russia) Best Server: Miyuki Takahashi(Japan) Best Digger: Stacy Sykora (United State) Best Setter: Tatiana Gratcheva (Russia) Best Receiver: Virna Dias (Brazil)
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