China remain unbeaten, US fall to Poland

Home>>Sports

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 09, 2003

China remain unbeaten, US fall to Poland

World Grand Prix champions China swept South Korea 3-0 in Toyama , Japan on Saturday to remain as the only team unbeaten at the women's volleyball World Cup being held in Japan.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

China unbeaten at women's volleyball World Cup

World Grand Prix champions China swept South Korea 3-0 in Toyama , Japan on Saturday to remain as the only team unbeaten at the women's volleyball World Cup being held in Japan.

The United States, the only other team undefeated before Saturday, saw their five-game winning streak snapped as they fell to European champions Poland in five sets in Sapporo.

The Chinese women marched on toward their first World Cup title in 18 years with the 25-10, 25-19 and 25-14 victory.

"We played well today," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe after their sixth win in a row. "We will face quite a few strong teams in the remaining matches, we have to try our best in every match."

"South Korea did not play to their best today," Chen added. " Their receiving were not so good, so they could not show their speed and variety in attack."

Going down tamely in the first set, South Korea fought back strongly in the second, forcing a 12-12 tie. However, the Chinese steadily pulled away on back of successful defense and balanced attack to make it two sets to nail.

China raced to a 5-0 lead in the third set and never looked back.

"The Chinese team is powerful," said South Korean head coach Kim Cheol-yong. "We made too many mistakes and couldn't play our game."

Every Chinese player fielded on the court has scored at least one point and Yang Hao led four Chinese in double digits with 16 points.

Poland, who held a 1-4 win-loss record into Saturday's action, squandered a two-set lead before holding off the Americans 25-21, 31-29, 22-25, 21-25 and 15-12.

South American champions Brazil claimed their fifth straight victory at the tournament as they beat Egypt 3-0.

Spurred on by the earlier news that Poland upset the United States, Brazil continued their march towards Olympic qualification by easing past the African Continental champions 25-14, 25-8 and 25-18.

Brazil improved to a 5-1 win-loss record, shared by the United States and Italy, 3-0 winners over Dominican Republic in Sapporo on Saturday.

Cuba returned parity to their win-loss record on Saturday when they cruised past lowly-ranked Argentina 3-0 in Toyama.

Argentina, ranked 11th in the 12-team tournament, have lost five of their six matches.

In Saturday's other action, Japan hammered Turkey 25-21, 25-16 and 25-16.

Questions?Comments? Click here

China unbeaten at women's volleyball World Cup

China smashes Poland for 5th straight win at World Cup

China cooks Turkey at volleyball World Cup

Is English invading Chinese culture? ( 20 Messages)

Chinese fleet visit heart of US forces in the Pacific ( 15 Messages)

Global survey: Chinese women sexiest ( 56 Messages)

Economist: China has no need to worry about possible trade deficits ( 3 Messages)

Japanese students, teacher make apology in Xi'an ( 17 Messages)

China expects to see trade deficit in near future: official ( 9 Messages)