China beat India in Asian women''s volleyball

Tianjin (China), May 22

Hosts China beat India 3-0 in a late home debut on the second day of the Asian Women's Volleyball Championship here.

Due to some unproductive negotiation between the Fiji Volleyball Association and the Fiji government, Fiji's national team failed to arrive here on time. Hence, China automatically won their first match and Thursday's match against India became their first performance in front of home fans, reports Xinhua.

With the top-ranked average height of 1.87 metres, China dominated around the net since the start of the match. They soon won by a 25-8 edge in the first set. Though India began to fight back with some powerful spikes, the home side still managed to win 25-12 in the following two sets.

All 12 Chinese players had the chance to step on court. In her debut of the first team, Zhang Changning had some impressive smashes and played respectively as wing-setter and chief spiker in the last two sets.

"We will face some strong opponents in the following matches, all players must be in full combat gear. As one of the best teams in Asia, we need more than six players to play on court," said China coach Jenny Lang Ping.

In other matches, as Fiji and Turkmenistan withdrew, both Iran and Japan won 3-0, Thailand swept Hong Kong, South Korea beat Australia 3-1. Chinese Taipei, Vietnam and Kazakhstan all had a 3-0 victory respectively over Sri Lanka, Mongolia and the Philippines.

IANS