Olympics champions China kept good form to beat Azerbaijan 3-1 in their first Pool B match of the 2006 Women's Volleyball World Championships in Sapporo, Japan, on Tuesday.

"The 3-1 result is quite normal to me because I've said before the game our opponents are strong," noted Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe. He added that it was a relief to see that the game deficit never went beyond five points, although several younger players had problems handling the chance balls.

The Olympics and World Cup champions fish-hooked their opponents 25-23, 24-26, 25-16 and 25-22 in under-two hours.

But the Azerbaijan team put up a spectacular fight, with Natalya Mammadova leading the point scoring with 20 spikes, while the rest of the team displayed their world-class blocks. This helped them to win the second set but they were unable to convert their efforts to victory.

Playing hard for the Chinese team, Wang Yimei and Yang Hao each nailed 17 points in the win. Wang and Xu Yunli, two rookies to the world championships, showcased their brilliance and talent through Wang's accurate serves and Xu's lightning-reflexes blocks.

"We played well today and tapped about 70 to 80 percent of the players' potential," commented Feng Kun, captain of China's team.

Azerbaijan head coach Faig Garayev summed up after the game: "To play the Olympics champions on your first match is a very difficult task. But I can't say we didn't play well. We played well but we were not able to make the most of our chances to win the match."

"It's too early to say we have a good beginning," Xu Li, director of the volleyball administration center, said. "A conclusion cannot be drawn until after five matches."

In other opening matches, Serbia and Montenegro, and Chinese Taipei were the two unexpected winners in their games. They beat the 2002 World Champions Italy 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 19-25, 27-25), and Japan (18-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-23) respectively.

China, which managed only fourth place in 2002, will next take on the Dominican Republic, who are already smarting from a first-game defeat by Germany. 

The men's competitions will be held from November 17 to December 3.

List of women's volleyball champions:

1 1952 Former Soviet Union
2 1956 Former Soviet Union
3 1960 Former Soviet Union
4 1962 Japan
5 1967 Japan
6 1970 Former Soviet Union
7 1974 Japan
8 1978 Cuba
9 1982 China
10 1986 China
11 1990 Former Soviet Union
12 1994 Cuba
13 1998 Cuba
14 2002 Italy

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao November 1, 2006)