China End Two-game Losing Streak with Straight-set Victory over US

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 29, 2003

China End Two-game Losing Streak with Straight-set Victory over US

China beat the United States in straight sets here on Monday for their opening victory in the final round competition of the women's volleyball 2003 World GrandPrix.

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China beat the United States in straight sets here on Monday for their opening victory in the final round competition of the women's volleyball 2003 World GrandPrix.

The Chinese girls ended their two-game losing streak at the endof the preliminary stage with the 25-21, 26-24 and 28-26 victory in one hour and 19 minutes.

"Our offensive tactics were successful," China head coach Chen Zhonghe said at the press conference.

"We also did a good job in defense and blocking, and we graspedthe chance at the crucial points," he added.

China, runners-up to Russia in last year's Grand Prix Finals, came out strongly as they led all the way to take the first set 25-21.

The United Stated built a 13-8 lead after the match resumed butChina steadily pulled back to tie it 24-24.

After Wang Li'na smashed home a ball to give China an edge, Tayyba Haneef of the United States drove long a spike to surrenderthe second set.

The third set was hotly contested and the Americans, who finished top of preliminary group A with a 4-1 record, withstood three match points with hard defense.

However, Yang Hao drove a ball hard into an American player on the fourth to secure the victory for China.

"We played a bad game," the United States' Japanese coach Yoshida Toshiaki said. "We made mistakes at crucial points."

"China got their offense going and we can not stop No. 4 and No.8 of China," he added.

Yang finished with 15 points and Liu Yanan (No. 4) added 12 forChina.

The Chinese girls converted on 51 percent of their attack opportunities, compared with 47 percent of the United States.

In Saturday's other action, the Netherlands rallied from two sets down to beat Italy 3-2 and defending Grand Prix champions Russia swept South Korea 3-0.

The six-team final round of the World Grand Prix, which adoptedthe round-robin format, runs through Sunday.

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