Off the wire
• Indonesia posts 10.38 pct bank loan growth in first half this year  • U.S. wants Russian citizen to be extradited by Finland  • NATO chief inaugurates joint training center in Georgia  • U.S. Taylor wins men's triple jump (updated)  • Higher risk of poverty among low-skilled workers in Germany: Destatis  • Myanmar allows using state radio TV for election campaigning  • Bulgaria reports 16.5 pct growth in outbound, 9 pct drop in inbound trips in July  • Kiev reports major escalation of E. Ukraine conflict  • Indian military kills 4 militants, captures 1 in Indian-controlled Kashmir gunfight  • 1st LD Writethru: Greek Supreme Court chief to be sworn in as caretaker PM  
You are here: 　 Home

Russia lead title race in FIVB Women's World Cup

Xinhua, August 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia led the title race in the 2015 FIVB women's volleyball World Cup after sweeping Cuba 3-0 Thursday afternoon for their fifth straight win.

The Russian women brushed aside Cuba 25-19, 25-13, 25-18 in Tokyo to remain as the only unbeaten side at the end of the first round play of the 12-team round robin tournament.

World runner-up China breezed past Peru 3-0 to stay in title contention. In the absence of top scorer Zhu Ting, who was rested by Jenny Lang Ping after receiving a minor injury to her right foot in Wednesday's 3-1 come-from-behind win over South Korea, the Chinese women improved to a 4-1 win-loss record with the 25-11, 25-18 and 25-17 victory.

World champions the United States also finished the first round play with a 4-1 record after clean sweeping Algeria 3-0 earlier on Thursday.

China coach Jenny Lang Ping said it's important for her side to improve through the last five matches in Matsumoto.

"During the tournament, we want to keep improving so we can play better. For every match, we have a different objective and each player should be at their best for each game; that's important," she said. "So far, our speed is improving, but it's difficult to say our condition is 100 per cent. We've had five difficult matches in Matsumoto because of the problems we had before we came here, so in these five matches we've tried to make an adjustment."

Middle blocker Yuan Xinyue received the Most Impressive Player award after scoring game-high 16 points for China and Zhang Changning, Zeng Chunlei and Liu Yanhan added 12, 10 and nine respectively.

Following an opening 3-0 win over Algeria, Peru have lost four matches in a row without taking one set. Peru stayed within 20-18 in the second set, only to find China run off five points in a row to wrap up the set.

Joining China and the USA in the 4-1 club were Serbia and the hosts Japan.

Serbia beat South Korea in straight sets 25-16, 25-19, and 25-16 Thursday evening for their fourth straight win at this World Cup following an opening 3-1 loss to China.

The Best Impressive Player award of the match went to Tijana Boskovic, who led Serbia with 17 points. Brankica Mihajlovic and Milena Rasic added 15 and 12 respectively. Kim Yeon-koung, who had scored game-high 27 points in South Korea's 3-1 loss to China the night before, was held to 12 points.

South Korea were leading 16-15 at the second TTO of the second set, but Serbia came back with a 6-0 run to overtake the lead 21-16 and went on to make it two sets to nil. In the third set, Serbia jumped to a 6-1 lead and never looked back.

In the last match of the day, Japan outlasted Dominican Republic 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 30-32, 25-15, 15-13) for their fourth win in five matches.

The teams will have two days off with the second round play to kick off in Sendai and Okayama on Sunday.

Top two finishers from the World Cup will qualify for the Rio Olympic Games. Endi