Olympic champions China beat Olympic bronze medalists Cuba 26-24, 25-21, 26-28, 25-20 in Osaka on Wednesday to enter the fifth place play-off of the 2006 women's volleyball World Championships.

Overcoming a slow start in the first two sets, Cuba counter-attacked impressively in the third set.

"The Cuba team prepared quite well before the match. They are one of the strongest teams in the world," said China head coach Chen Zhonghe, "They played hard but they made many mistakes."

Cuba made 35 errors during the match that lasted one hour and 33 minutes, to China’s 17.

Battling back from two sets down, the Cuba women showed their nerve and clawed back in the third as they battled the Chinese tied from 1-1 to 21-21.

After losing four set points, Luaces Yumika Ruiz drove the ball home to give Cuba a laudable win.

The fourth set was also hotly contested. Trailing 14-18, Cuba came back with a 5-1 run and tied the game 19-19.

But Wang Yimei and Xu Yunli combined to score four points for China to close Cuba out with a 6-1 run.

"It was an important game for both teams because we all want to enter the fifth place play-off, but today we lacked concentration on the court." said Luis Calderon, head coach of Cuba.

China will face the winner of Netherlands and host Japan, which will be held later on Wednesday, for the fifth-place play-off.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2006)