France muscled out China 31-23 and ranked fifth at the Beijing Olympics women's handball on Saturday.

"We have made lots of preparation in the technical field. Chinese players, nevertheless, have shown a low morale since the beginning of the match, maybe because many of them have suffered injuries and they were very tired. The defeat is a normal result," said Kang Jae-won, coach of the Chinese team.

He added that "Our goal at the Beijing Olympics is to get a medal of course, or to be one of the top four. I regret that we did not reach it, but I am satisfied with the sixth place as all players have done their best."

Kang announced that he will not serve as the coach of Chinese squad as his contract with the Chinese Handball Association has expired. The South Korean man, however, expressed his willingness to help China develop the sport.

"We have exerted the most efforts, no matter what the goal in the Olympics is," said Chinese pivot Liu Yun.

The hosts failed to launch effective attacks while leaving looser defense to rivals, which stood in a comparison with their performance in a group match against France earlier this week.

The European powerhouse extended its lead with continuous attacks before the interval. One highlight of the team was pivot Veronique Pecqueux-Rolland who contributed five points in the first half which ended at 15-10.

After the halftime, China mounted a fierce fightback with Liu scoring six times and veteran Wang Shasha three times, but no clear improvement could be found in defense. More French players gained chances to shine before the net.

Pecqueux-Rolland hurled the ball into the net at the last minute, increasing the number of her scores to seven in the match.

The host country reached the quarterfinals after stunning the European powerhouse 21-18 in their last preliminary last Sunday.

In the quarterfinals, China and France were downed by South Korea and Russia respectively. The hosts edged Olympic debutant Sweden 20-19 in a 5th-8th playoff while France downed Romania 36-34 in a pulsating two-overtime thriller.

Romania edged Sweden 34-30 to take the seventh place in a previous match on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2008)