Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, September 27, 2002
China's Tian/Wang Awarded Top Seed in Asiad Beach Volleyball
China's Tian Jia and Wang Fei were seeded number one by the beach volleyball organizers at the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, an official from the Chinese delegation said on Thursday.
China's Tian Jia and Wang Fei were seeded number one by the beach volleyball organizers at the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, an official from the Chinese delegation said on Thursday.
Zuo Zhiyong, China's beach volleyball team manager, said that Tian and Wang were awarded the top seed spot, followed by Ryoko Tokuno and Chiaki Kusuhara of Japan, the runners-up at last Asian Games in Bangkok.
Defending champion Arlaisuk Rattanapom and Pangka Manatsanan of Thailand were ranked third in the coming tournament.
Tian and Wang, currently ranked eighth by the FIVB, enjoyed the highest ranking achieved by any Asian players.
"They can be defeated by nobody but themselves," said Zuo Zhiyong. "The only thing I worry about them is their consistency during matches."
The Chinese duo, both of them at the age of 21, have time and often failed to maintain their consistency in the last 10 months. They once became the victims of panic by losing seven points in a row after a 7-point advantage, a tragedy repeated six times during the women's world beach volleyball series last season.
The Busan Asian Games features 11 pairs in the women's beach volleyball from China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong of China, Indonesia and Mongolia after the withdrawal of an Indonesian duo three days away from the opening of the Games.