Host China defeated Canada 5-0 to win the "Bank of China" China Cup International Softball Tournament yesterday at Beijing's Fengtai Softball Field.

A four-run flurry in the bottom of the fourth inning set the pace for China, who displayed top-class defense and showed supreme hitting power, resulting in a total of eight hits, five more than the Canadians mustered.

"The players gained a lot of confidence from the victory over Australia on Saturday," said a delighted Chinese head coach Wang Lihong, who replaced American Michael Bastian as head coach in March.

Despite losing to the tournament-favorite Aussies twice during the preliminaries, including a 16-1 thrashing, the Chinese recovered in time to beat Australia in the semis and clinch a spot in the final.

"Today we just played an excellent game," Wang said. "The mental power works."

The morale-boosting victory over Australia, ranked No 3 in the world, proved to be truly memorable for China, who has rarely beaten the Aussies in international competition. Last year, for example, China endured a painful 1-0 loss to the Aussies in the bronze-medal playoff at the World Championships, which was held in the same venue as yesterday's game.

"This is a good start," Wang said. "We do not have much time before the Beijing Olympic Games next year and we need to work harder."

The Canadians, who defeated China 5-2 in the opening preliminary game, simply did not display the kind of inspired play that led to their 5-0 upset of Australia earlier on Saturday, which gave them a spot in the final.

"China is a better team today," Canadian head coach Lori Sippel said.

Australia placed third followed by Chinese Taipei who did not take a single win from the 16-game six-day tournament.

(China Daily October 15, 2007)