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| November 15, 2001 | Thursday | Shaba’an 28, 1422 |
China claim another prized scalp
SAITAMA (Japan), Nov 14: Asian champions China claimed another prize scalp while Japan kept their momentum alive to remain unbeaten in the World Grand Champions Cup women’s volleyball tournament on Wednesday.
The young Chinese women, who shocked European champions and Olympic silver medallists Russia Tuesday, pulled off another upset by beating Grand Prix winners the United States 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22.
The Japanese spikers, roared on by a partisan crowd in Saitama, north of Tokyo, powered their way to a 22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 victory over arch-rivals South Korea.
Defending champions Russia had to come from behind to beat Olympic bronze medallists Brazil 21-25, 25-20, 28-30, 25-16, 15-10 in one hour and 58 minutes to post their first win.
China and Japan stand with a 2-0 win-loss record, followed by South Korea and Russia on 1-1 and the United States and Brazil with 0-2 in the six-team round-robin contest.
China got off to a flying start by taking six points in a row to lead 6-1 and held on to a narrow edge in taking the first set.
The US women, who beat all-conquering Cuba to win the right to represent North America here, showed signs of a recovery in the second set with winners off Danielle Scott and Sarah Noriega.
But the Chinese stood firm in the last two sets.
Despite going three points down in the fourth set at one point, they took charge on a couple of consecutive errors by the US women to regain the lead at 20-19 before sealing the match in one hour and 46 minutes.
The Koreans, who had lost only twice to Japan in the last 20 matches, were frustrated by a blunder at the end of the third set and then made a series of errors to go 1-5 down in the fourth before fading out.
The teams will move to Fukuoka, western Japan, for the remaining matches as they battle for the top prize of $300,000.
Wednesday’s results:
China bt USA 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22); Russia bt Brazil 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 28-30, 25-16, 15-10) rpt fifth set 15-10; Japan bt South Korea 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19).—AFP
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