The host Chinese women's volleyball team won their fourth consecutive Asian Games title with a perfect 7-0 record by beating South Korea 3-2 in their last match at Guangzhou Gymnasium on Saturday.

This is also the last gold medal decided at the 16-day Guangzhou Asian Games, which concluded on Saturday.

In front of about 8,000 spectators, China rallied from two sets down to win 21-25, 22-25, 25-10, 25-16, 16-14 to capture their seventh crown in style. It was in attacking where the Chinese made the biggest difference, winning 59 points on spikes against South Korea's 45. China also had six aces while South Korea had nil.

It was an even match from the very start. China built up an early five point cushion at 5-1, but South Korea soon came back as China contributed four errors to South Korea's first six points. After the first technical time out, South Korea overtook the lead at 15-14 with a 5-1 surge and rallied to 23-18 as China made a series unforced errors.

Ma Yunwen scored two points in a row for China to claw it back at 21-24, but Hwang Youn-Joo secured the opening set win for South Korea with a spike from right side of the net.

South Korea went 3-0 ahead in the second set and widened the gap to five points at 8-3. China's head coach Yu Juemin was forced to call a timeout. It succeeded as Li Juan sparked a 5-1 run for China to go 8-9. But South Korean soon answered with a 4-1 run to regain their lead and enlarged the gap to 21-16.

Kim Yeon-Koung then exploded as she scored the South Koreans' last two points to seal the set 25-22.

China came back strongly in the third set, as Wang Yimei and Xue Ming consistent in attacking, China led throughout the set while South Korea, who could not find their firm defense anymore, struggled at the net, committing too many errors. China then clinched the set 25-10 after South Korea made another error.

China went 11-9 up after both teams tied at 8-8 as Wang's heavy spikes proved too much for the South Korea team. Yu called a timeout after South Korea clawed the scoreboard back at 11-11, after the game resumed, Xue sparked a 5-1 run to help China pull within at 17-13. The Chinese kept cool and eventually took the fourth set by a chain of sharp attacks.

The fifth set turned out again to be a see-saw affair. China beat South Korea's two match points to tie at 14-14. Han Song-Yi, provided the ammunition of attacking for South Korea, served out of bounds to award China the match point. Li Juan then flied from left side of the net to knock the ball down on the opponent's court to give China the winner.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2010)