China booked first women's volleyball semi-final position on
Tuesday after beating Japan 3-0 in a quarterfinal round match at
the Athens Olympics.
China completed a clinical three-set win over its arch-rival in
Asia in one hour and 49 minutes.
China, who ranked fifth at Sydney Olympics four years ago, made
a good start in the first set, opening a 3-0 lead after only one
minutes.
Japan replied by improving their fast-attacking to lead into the
first technical time-out 8-6.
However, China answered back with a 8-2 run and it was left to
Wang Lina to claim the final point of the set which China took it
25-20.
In the second set, Japan began to play improved volleyball,
opening 7-3 lead. But it wasn't long before China found their fast
attacking and their high blocking game again and tied the set up at
12-12.
Kana Oyama scored all Japan's last four points at the final five
minutes but could not stop China close the set at 25-22.
Falling behind with two sets, Japanese side started more evenly
in the third. The score were tied from 1-1 to 15-15 before China
started to gain the ascendancy.
With Wang Lina's three points, China launched a 5-0 run to take
advantage. A wonderful spike from Zhang Ping gave China a 23-19
advantage and her serve made China finish the game with 25-20.
After the easy victory, China entered the semi-finals and will
face the winner between Italy and Cuba, which will be held later on
Tuesday.?
(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2004)