Olympic women's volleyball: China, U.S., Russia unbeaten
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E-mail Xinhua, July 31, 2012
LONDON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Favorites China, the United States and Russia took their second wins in the women's volleyball tournament of London Olympics on Monday, almost securing a berth in quarterfinals.
In the replay of the Beijing Games finale, the world No. 1 U.S. overpowered defending champion Brazil 3-1 as the two teams both exhibited mighty attacks and solid defense. With impressive performances of Destinee Hooker and Logan Tom, however, the Americans have done a better job over net and less errors at key points.
Hooker scored 23 points for the U.S., while Sheilla Castro contributed 15 points for Brazil.
"As a team we played well and improved from the first match. Brazil are good technically and are fiery, so when they got ahead it was hard to catch up," said Tom.
The Americans will play with China for the next match, who is on high spirit following a second win over the "black horse" Turkey.
The Chinese, champions in 2004 Athens Games and bronze medal winner in Beijing Games, won the match 25-20, 25-20, 29-31 and 25-22, with solid blocks and lethal spikes of its key players Wang Yimei and Hui Ruoqi.
Hui scored a stunning 21 points for China, while the Iron Lady Neslihan Dainel contributed 16 points for Turkey.
"The victory is the result of great teamwork. My girls have played very offensive today but, meanwhile, with enough patience. They managed to stay calm even when Turkey won back a set," said China's head coach Yu Juemin.
China's Wang Yimei attributed the loss of third set to the eager of winning, which have distracted the team's focus at the court.
"At the beginning we played very hard and after, we started to feel tired. But we managed to carry on. At the end of the third set, we did not control the match very well. We really wanted to win, but we didn't keep the pace enough," said Wang
"Turkey is a strong team. We lost 3-1 to them at the World Grand Prix in June, so we have made full preparations for a hard game with a lot of targeted training, and the girls followed our plans and gave out all what they have achieved in the training," said Yu.
In another match of Pool B, South Korea upset Serbia 3-1 to take the third place of the group.
In Pool A, powerhouses Russia and Italy both harvested a 3-1 victory over the Dominican Republic and Japan respectively. The host nation Great Britain beat Algeria in a five-set toil to take its first victory at the Olympic Games.
Twelve women's teams are divided into two groups in the preliminary round of the Olympic tournament in London that run through July 28 to Aug. 11. The top four teams to emerge out of each pool will play the quarterfinals. Enditem
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