Host China came closer to an Olympic quarterfinal berth following a memorable 3-2 win over error-prone Japan in men's volleyball preliminaries on Thursday night.

In the deafening cheers of "Zhongguo, Bisheng (China, Win)" from more than 13,000 home fans, China gave full play of its fast-attack style to tame its old rival 25-20, 25-23, 17-25, 16-25 and 15-10.

After the two-hour toil, the Chinese men volleyballers screamed their happiness around the court, and the crowd went wild too, yelling "China, China" with red national flags of China flying at the spectator stands.

"It's a great game. I'm too excited to say anything. I'm so proud my players are able to get rid of the curse of 'wasting early win by losing in the end', let alone they have done it at the Olympics," said China's head coach Zhou Jian'an, whose eyes got red.

However, the coach managed to hold himself at the post-match press conference, attributing the victory most to the perseverance of the players and a little to his strategy of sending players Fang Yichao and Shi Hairong to the court when the team trailed in the fourth set.

"I gambled by sending Fang and Sui. Japan are very familiar with our line-up at the first three sets because we played many times before, but Fang and Sui are new to them," said Zhou. "I think they have to spend time to get used to the changes, which will give us chances."

Fang, the X-factor of the game, yelled and waved his fist to his coach after scoring the last point.

"I meant to say 'thanks for trusting me. You made the right choice, didn't you?', " Fang told Xinhua.

Zhou's tricky substitutions worked, but Japanese head coach Tatsuya Ueta argued the Chinese players also owed a lot to the home supporters.

"They made good adjustments. The support from the spectators played an important role in boosting the morale of the Chinese team, and when their player number 18 (Fang) and 6 (Shi) were on the court I think they could feel this," he said.

It is the second Olympic show for China, ranked 21st in the world, the lowest among the 12 competitors. They appeared last time at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 as the replacement team and finished a disappointing 8th.

The Asian derby was a do-or-die game for both China and Japan, who are regarded on the same par. China, who beat Venezuela 3-2 on Tuesday, holds a 1-2 win-loss record, while Japan has suffered two consecutive loss.

The two teams kept a half-half win-loss record before the Games. However, the host was proved a cut above the Japanese, especially on reception and serving.

A series of unforced errors, including seven serve faults, cost Japan dearly in the opener and China soon established an early lead 6-3. With two ace serves of wing spiker Cui Jianjun and powerful spikes of Yuan Zhi from the right flank, China enlarged the gap to 16-9. When Japan strove to narrow the gap to 21-18 with effective blocking and lethal spikes from Kunihiro Shimizu.

However, they wasted the chance to bounce back with frequent errors at the crucial points. An out-of-the-court serve and a wayward spike helped China take the set 25-20.

Japan failed to stop China's winning momentum in the second set and their unforced errors gave the rivals another 10 points. Starting with 14-10, China controled the play and improved to 24-21, thanks to the spikes by 19-year-old Bian Hongmin and YuanZhi.

After missing two match points, a determined China took the set 25-23 with an unanswered spike from Yuan Zhi.

However, the host fell into sleep in the third set. After breaking a 14-14 draw, Japan launched a brilliant 9-1 run to take over lead 23-15 with the spiker of southpaw hitter Takahiro Yamamoto and ace serves of Yu Koshikawa.

China pulled back two points, but Yamamoto's ace serve helped Japan pull the set back 25-17.

The fourth set went almost the same way as the third. Yamamoto and 2.05-meter Kota Yamamura at the net were prominent, while the attacking of China's Yuan from the left was restrained by blocking. Japan took the set 25-16.

The match was forced into the tiebreaker. Koshikawa and Yamamoto continued to break China's reception and defense with powerful serves and spikes in the early stages of the deciding set. China replied through Bian and Shen Qiong, who continued to come up with clean winners on either side.

China staged a stunning 6-2 run with kill blocks of Shen Qiong and spikes from Fang Yingchao, a new face to Japan who was sent to the court at the fourth set.

China had three match points at 14-9, but missed two with wild spike of Shi Hairong. The fervency of the spectators went to the highest when the middle blocker Fang rose at the net and his attack was touched out by the Japanese block.

China will play the next match against the United States, while Japan will meet Venezuela on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)