Athens Olympic champions China beat Japan 3-1 in their first match of the second round in the women's volleyball world championship in Tokyo on Saturday.

The 25-23, 25-23, 27-29, 25-12 win made China find some confidence after the mediocre performance in the group stage of the tournament.

China led in most of the time of the first two sets and maintained the advantage until the end. In the third set, Japan's Saori Kimura fought back, leading Japan to save China's match point three times and won the set. [ The fourth set was more of a one-sided game, as China led Japan 8-4 and 16-9 into two technical time-outs. Japan lost momentum and in the later half and lost the set 25-12.

Japan finished the first stage of the championship on top of group A, while China was the fourth ranking team in group D.

The championship started on Oct. 29 with 24 teams and will end on Nov. 14.

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