Defending champion China has picked up its confidence after an inspiring 3-0 win over another Asian powerhouse Japan in women's volleyball on Sunday night.
It only took the host 67 minutes to finish the game 26-24, 25-16 and 25-14. The victory came right in time for China after losing to Cuba and the United States both in depressing 3-2.
"It's really hard to rebuild confidence after two straight losses. Some experienced players cried after the matches," said China's head coach Chen Zhonghe. "Today's win is very important for us to rebuild our confidence and spirit. I hope they will be strong enough to carry on."
While China reclaimed its courage from the match, Japan might face the similar depression the Chinese had before.
"Today we lost on the emotional side. We didn't fight to the end. We didn't have the strong will to win," said Japan head coach Shoichi Yanagimoto.
Holding 3-2 win-loss record, the host finished the third in Pool A, while the Japanese trailed behind after winning two of the five preliminaries.
Both of the two teams virtually given qualification to the final eight club in advance after the United States outgun Poland 3-2 in another Pool A match earlier in the afternoon.
Standing at the fifth of the group with a 1-4 win-loss record, the Europeans ended their Olympic campaign as only top four of six-team went to the next round.
Due a slow start, China went down 12-3 in the earlier time of the opener with a series of passing and spiking errors. However, China's head coach Chen Zhonghe turned the table by replacing error-prone veteran setter Feng Kun with the younger Wei Qiuyue.
The substitution reaped sweet response. Wei helped China's ace hitter Wang Yimei to give full play of her hefty spikes with precise setting. Wang scored nine points to help the team narrow the gap 14-13.
Japan started to showcase their tenacious defense and the two sides traded leads to tie it at 24-all before China took the set 26-24 with a spike of opposite player Zhou Suhong and a kill block of middle blocker Xue Ming.
The host reclaimed its rhythm by strengthening blocking against the spikes of Japan's two key scorers Megumi Kurihara and Erika Araki. Flying to a 13-3 start, the Chinese glided to a 25-16 victory.
With two sets in hand and inspired by thundering cheers of more than 14,000 home fans, the Chinese played the third set in a more relaxed way, while the Japanese could barely organize effective counterattack as their reception collapsed under the powerful services of Chinese players. China took the effortless decider 25-14 with a middle court spike of Xue.
Wang scored 15 points for China, and Araki contributed 10 points for Japan.
Chen admitted that setting now became the "Achilles' heel" of the defending champion, who targeted a medal in Beijing.
"It's hard for us to organize smooth attack due the unstable performances of the setters, which cost us dearly at big points, so we have to resolve this problem as soon as possible," he told Xinhua.
The coach, however, denied he would drive Feng out of the first line-up.
"Generally speaking, she played not bad, but every player of the team should be ready for tough matches in the quarterfinals," he said.
After this match, Cuba, the US, China and Japan took the top four of Pool A to make the quarterfinals, while Poland and Olympic debutant Venezuela in the same group finished their competition by ranking the fifth and the last.
In Pool B, Brazil, Italy, Russia and Serbia secured a final eight berth as top four of Pool B, while Kazakhstan and Algeria were blocked off from the quarterfinals.
The final placing of the group will be decided after the last preliminary match between Russia and Serbia later on Sunday night.
(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)