China cooks Turkey at volleyball World Cup

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 06, 2003

China cooks Turkey at volleyball World Cup

China endured its toughest test to date at the 2003 women's volleyball World Cup yesterday in Sendai, Japan, defeating Turkey 3-1.

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China endured its toughest test to date at the 2003 women's volleyball World Cup yesterday, defeating Turkey 3-1.

The Chinese women, bidding to win their first World Cup title in 18 years, beat the stubborn European runners-up 25-10, 24-26, 25-21 and 25-21 for their fourth straight win.

Star spiker Zhao Ruirui shouted to the air after smashing home the winner for China.

"It's really a hard game, I was so excited that we won in the end," Zhao told Xinhua.

Zhao finished with 17 kills and five blocks and led China with 24 points.

"Our serving and receiving were not so good today, thus we were not able to show our speed and variety in attack," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe. "And we did not convert the opportunities in counter-attacks very well."

"Turkey played very well in the last three sets and they did a really good job in defense," Chen added. "In comparison, our defense and blocking was not so satisfying."

Going down tamely in the first set, Turkey fought back strongly in the second. They staged a 7-1 run to go up 23-22.

The 1.96-metre Zhao saved China from Turkey's first set point with a kill and made it 24-all. However, Natalia Hanikoglu smashed two balls home in a row to pull one set back for Turkey.

"Our players seemed a little bit loosened up when we led by 21-16 in the second set, Turkey took the chance to win the set," said Chen.

The Chinese women improved their defense in the third set. They pulled away from a 15-14 advantage with a 4-0 burst and held on to make it two sets to one.

Turkey raced to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set and were 19-17 up before China running off eight of the last 10 points to secure the victory.

"I am satisfied with our performance today," said Turkey's head coach Resat Yaziciogullari. "My players did not believe they could do well against China in the first set, but they never gave up in the last three sets."

Yang Hao added 17 points for China and Zhou Suhong and Liu Ya'nan contributed 14 each.

The Turkish women were led by Demir Neslihan's 19 points.

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