Form slump continues for women volleyballers
China's women's volleyball team continued its losing form at the 2007 World Grand Prix Finals yesterday, losing to the Netherlands in five sets.
The 2004 Olympic champion lost to its Dutch opponents in a grueling match at the Beilun Sports and Arts Center of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province.
The squad failed to live up to its champion status during the preliminaries in the past month, recording just four wins from nine matches to register China's worst ever finish with an eighth in the 12-team Grand Prix.
China would not have a chance in the six-team Finals if it had not been hosting the event.
"We did not play consistently," head coach Chen Zhonghe said. "We had some chances to score but failed to make it.
"Some of our players did not perform very well under pressure, especially when the score was close."
Chen said a number of his inexperienced charges had experienced ups and downs in the preliminary rounds.
"The problem still came up in this match," he said.
"Sometimes we played well but sometimes we made big mistakes."
But Chen vowed that China would try to improve team play through matches against the best teams in the world.
Earlier, Italy and Brazil joined the Netherlands as winners on the opening day.
Italy emerged a surprising winner against a strong Russian side, using speed to trump superior height in four sets.
Defending champion Brazil gave Finals debutant Poland a lesson it won't easily forget, with a lopsided three-set victory.
(China Daily 08/23/2007 page22)
