China Win over Australia in Group B at Women's Volleyball Worlds

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, September 01, 2002

China Win over Australia in Group B at Women's Volleyball Worlds

China won its opening Group B match over Australia three sets to none at the 2002 women's volleyball world championships here on Friday.

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China won its opening Group B match over Australia three sets to none at the 2002 women's volleyball world championships in Leipzig of Germany on Friday.

The Chinese won the match 25-12, 25-18, 25-16.

Earlier on Friday, Brazil beat Poland three sets to none, 25-18,25-19, 25-18, in the group's opening match. Other teams in the group are Thailand and Greece.

As two-time winners in both world championships and World Cup tournaments, the Chinese also won the 1984 Olympic Games and this year's Grand Champions Cup. They had been tipped as the hot favorites for the championship title in Germany.

With volleyball one of the most popular sports back home, Australia's best performance so far in world-class events were theninth finish in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and 12th in the 1982world championships.

The early stage of the opening set, which featured efficient defense by the Australians and trickly play from the Chinese side,saw the scores tied four times before the Chinese pulled away. The Chinese sealed the set in their favor.

The two teams exchanged lead early in the second set and the scores were tied seven times. With quick attacks and improved netplay however, the Chinese won the set to make it two up.

With two sets to the Chinese credit, the announcer mistakenly described the third as "the final set", which was soon corrected by himself. The eventuall Chinese victory didn't came until afterthey got rid off the Australians from a seventh tie, at 11-11, towin the set 25-16.

Frequent subsititution prevented the Chinese from taking an easy win, head coach Chen Zhonghe explained after the match. "I did so to give as much chance as possible to our players," he said.

Chen, who is leading the Chinese team for the first time at world championships, admitted his squad played an unsteady game today, which has been one of the major problems for him to resolve.

"Brazil is a strong team worthy of serious attention from their opponents. I have not decided on the starting line-up for our game against them tomorrow (Saturday)," Chen said when asked of the South American team.

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