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| November 14, 2001 | Wednesday | Shaba’an 27, 1422 |
China, Korea and Japan pull off upset victories
SAITAMA (Japan), Nov 13: Regional champions China led an Asian onslaught, along with wild card entrants South Korea and hosts Japan, on the opening day of the World Grand Champions Cup women’s volleyball tournament Tuesday.
The Chinese women gained sweet revenge for their Sydney Olympic quarter-final loss against Russia with a tough 33-35, 25-21, 25-19, 27-25 victory over the European champions and Olympic silver medallists.
The Koreans, eighth in the Olympics, defeated the United States 25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, reversing a three-match losing streak to the Americans stretching back to the World Grand Prix this year.
The Japanese completed a day of upsets by beating Olympic bronze medallists Brazil 26-24, 25-20, 25-22 to the delight of a partisan crowd in Saitama, north of Tokyo.
Russia had the initial momentum in the game and won a tight first set, but the Chinese started to play more aggressively and controlled most of the next three sets.
China appeared to show some nerves when they squandered several match points to blow a 24-20 lead in the fourth set but finally prevailed to win the match in 106 minutes.
Korean captain Choi Kwang-Hee said the team used the injury of Lee Yun-Hui, who was stretchered off the court after landing heavily with the match in the balance in the fourth set, as motivation.
Chikako Kumamae scored 12 attacking points in her first match as Japanese national team captain.
Six teams are taking part in the two-million-dollar round-robin tournament, vying for the top prize of 300,000 dollars.
Tuesday’s results:
South Korea bt US 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23); China bt Russia 3-1 (33-35, 25-21, 25-19, 27-25); Japan bt Brazil 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-22).—AFP
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