China serves up volleyball gold

Women's squad thrills home fans with impressive triumph over Japan in final

Roared on by the earsplitting support of the home crowd, China's women's volleyball team stormed to glory at the World University Games on Sunday evening.

The host squad overcame a resilient Japan 29-27, 29-27, 25-22 at the Xipu Campus Gymnasium of Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu. Team China head coach Zhao Yong was delighted to see the team win so convincingly in the final after looking nervy early in the tournament.

"Our players are relatively young and had only played in a few international events previously, so it's natural that they appeared to be ill-prepared or encountered emotional upsets at the very beginning," said Zhao.

"But the rest of the games were on the right path, and I think they got into a rhythm by the third match of the group stage," he said. "They got better and better during the Chengdu games, and undoubtedly, the final was the best."

In an earlier game, Poland beat Brazil 3-1 for the bronze medal.

The final between Japan and China was intense from beginning to end. After the score was leveled at 21-21 by Japan during the first set, China had the set point four times before capping it off 29-27.

In the second set, Japan tied the score again at 22-22 to force the first timeout by China. The scores remained even from 23-all to 27-all before the Japanese lost it with a serving error and an ace from China.

Scores were again repeatedly tied for the third set, until China gradually extended its lead with point-scoring spikes and took the first match point with a smash before wrapping up the set 25-22.

"We were aiming for the gold during pregame training, and we made it!" said spiker Wu Mengjie, the top scorer on the Chinese side with 16 points. Fellow spiker Zhong Hui and opposite Zhou Yetong recorded 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Wu added that the players have learned a great deal from the games in Chengdu, including techniques, mental preparations and how to adjust to their environment.

"I believe we'll get better and better in the future," Wu said.

Zhou said the key to edging past their opponents was remaining calm whenever the score was tied.

"Instead of getting anxious, we were very patient to win points one by one," she said.

"The victory is the result of our joint efforts. We had prepared for a tough match and rigorously implemented the strategy devised by the coach. I am extremely happy to win the match and claim my first championship in a global sports event."

It was also the first time middle blocker Wang Wenhan won gold at an international competition.

"Honestly, I was not in my best shape before the final. But on the court, I strove to get myself excited and use my high emotions to bring out my best techniques," she said. "I've learned a lot from the game, and definitely need to improve my blocking."

Opposite Miao Yiwen did not reveal her wish for a gold medal until after the final concluded because she was afraid that talking about it would jinx it.

"It is a dream come true for me tonight," she said. "But after this victory, everything will return to zero. All I need to do is to train harder and keep improving myself."

More than an hour after the match on Sunday evening finished, some volleyball aficionados were reluctant to leave, with one of them holding a red banner reading: "Celebrating wins and shouldering losses together. Forever support China's women's volleyball."

Zhao, the coach, said that volleyball is now very popular in China.

"I hope that through hosting high-level international events like the Chengdu games, more children will become interested in the sport and participate in it," Zhao said.