Chinese men lose World Cup opener to SCG

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 16, 2003

Chinese men lose World Cup opener to SCG

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One day after China clinched its first volleyball World Cup title in 18 years in the 2003 women's tournament, Chinese men lost to Serbia and Montenegro 3-0 in the men's World Cup opening in Japan on Sunday.

Serbia and Montenegro, ranked second in the world, swept the Asian runners-up 25-16, 25-16 and 26-24.

The Chinese, with an average age of less than 23, started slowly against the stronger, quicker and better organized Europeans.

Going down tamely in the first two sets, China fought hardly inthe third and withstood two match points for a 24-24. However, Star spiker Ivan Miljkovic drove Chinese Shen Qiong to the ground with a smash to give Serbia and Montenegro the third match point and teammate Goran Vujevic converted it with a spike.

Miljkovic had 16 kills to lead Serbia and Montenegro with 18 points.

"We lost our concentration in the third set," said Serbia and Montenegro's head coach Ljubomir Travica. "We must pay more attention to this in the next matches."

Chinese head coach Di An'he thought his players were too nervous against the strong opponents.

"The loss was in our expectation, but we did not play to our normal standard today," Di said. "It's the first major international competition for almost all of my players, they were unable to control themselves on the court in the first two sets."

"We began to play our game in the third set, but that was too late," Di added.

"Our main target at the World Cup is to accumulate international experience and prepare for the Olympic qualifying tournament," Di added.

The Chinese were led by Shen Qiong's 13 points.

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