China hammered Russia 3-0 in Andria, Italy on Sunday to win
their first title at the women's volleyball World Grand Prix.
China beat the defending champions 25-22, 28-26 and 25-21 to
record their fifth straight win in the round-robin final round
competitions of the 2003 edition of the annual tournament, which
was inaugurated in 1993.
"We are very happy to win our first Grand Prix title," said a
joyful Chinese coach Chen Zhonghe. "We played well today and we did
a job in serving, blocking and defense."
"The Russian team did not play to their best today," he
added.
The Chinese showed a balanced offense with five players scoring
in double digits. Zhao Ruirui led China with 16 points, Zhou Suhong
added 11 and Yang Hao, Wang Li'na and Liu Ya'nan contributed 10
each.
Evguen Artamonova converted on 61 percent of her attack
opportunities for 23 points, only to see Russia have their eight
game winning streak in the tournament ended.
Russia head coach Nikolai Karpol thought the Chinese team had
improved a lot, especially in defense.
"They are getting stronger," he said. "They play better defense
than before."
China went out strongly against the Russians, who beat them 3-1
in the preliminaries. After Chinese captain Feng Kun teamed up with
Zhao Ruirui to stuff consecutive spikes from Artamonova and
towering Ekaterina Gamova, Yang Hao's service and Zhao's spike gave
China a 20-16 edge in the first set.
Russia ran off three points to pull within 24-22, but Yang Hao
slammed home the ball to end the Russian run and secure the opener
for China.
China started the second set with a 6-1 run and held on for a
20-16 lead. Russia surged back with a 5-0 run to make it 21-20
before China went ahead 22-21 through Wang Li'na and Zhou Suhong.
Russia withstood three set points but China converted on the fourth
when Wang smashed two balls home in a row.
The two sides exchanged runs in the third set before China went
up 22-20. After Gamova pulled Russia within 23-21, China ran off
two consecutive points to conclude the match in one hour and 15
minutes.
Earlier on Sunday, the United States beat the Netherlands 3-0 to
finish third. The Americans won the match 25-22, 25-20 and 28-26
for the bronze medal with three wins against two losses.
The hosts and reigning world champions Italy overpowered South
Korea 3-1 on Sunday for their first win in the final round and a
fifth place finish. South Korea, the top finishers from preliminary
group B, had to settle for the bottom after their fifth straight
defeat in the six-team final round.
(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2003)