Olympic champions China held off a strong challenge from Azerbaijan to open their FIVB World Grand Prix Ningbo leg campaign on a winning note Friday.

Natalya Mammadova, the overall top scorer of the World Grand Prix qualifying round, paced Azerbaijan with a game-high 30 points but it was not enough to prevent the Grand Prix newcomers from losing 25-18, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24.

Spiker Yang Hao top scored for China with 22 points.

Trailing 2-0 in sets, Azerbaijan refused to give up. A string of hard-hitting, high-jumping attacks led by Mammadova sparked the Azerbaijanis to a 25-19 victory in the third set.

The fourth set started with tied point-gaining. Both teams tried to pull away from each other, could yet efficiently work it out.

China looked on course for victory when leading at 17-12, but a resilient Azerbaijan managed to draw level at 23-23. After wasting a match point at 24-23, China closed out the match with a blocking.

The Beilun leg is part of a qualifying campaign featuring 12 of the world's top teams. The top five teams from the qualifying rounds join hosts Italy in the World Grand Prix finals, which run from Sept. 6-10 in Reggio Calabria, Italy.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2006)