China' coach Chen depressed after 3-1 win over Japan
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-05-31 00:05

Chen Zhonghe, head coach of China, felt angered to his squad who beat Japan 3-1 in their opening match at the International Women's Volleyball Tournament on Monday, saying that none of Chinese players had performed well in the game.

"I'm quite disappointed at my squad," said Chen after the match, in which China won 25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 25-15.

"The players didn't come all out throughout the match," commented Chen, who led Chinese women's volleyball to their first world title in 17 years in 2003 at Japan World Cup and again to be titled in Athens Olympics last August.

During the fourth and decisive set, Chen substituted Zhang Na and Zhang Ping for Wang Yimei and Ma Yunwen to make the squad the same as that for the Athens Olympic final.

"Wang Yimei clearly showed her weakness in changing tactics andbeing short of experience. We couldn't lose the opener since we had been so expected to win it," he explained.

Chen further commented on the other part of the squad that "LiuYanan, Chu Jinling and Yang Hao, native of Liaoning province, lacked enthusiasm before the chanting host fans, while Feng Kun, the team captain, failed to control the rhythm of the match."

Japanese head coach Shoichi Yanagimoto, however, felt convincedby the Olympic and World Cup champions Chinese, saying that they had just lost to a better team.

"Our players held no physical advantage comparing to the Chinese team, and the only reason we lost is that they played better than us," he said.

China will next take Dominican Republic, who was beaten by Poland in Monday's opening match of Group A, while Japan will meet Poland on Tuesday in a second match of the preliminary round of the five-day tournament.

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