The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : China, Russia in women's semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

China, Russia in women's semifinals

ATHENS, AUG. 24. China moved one step closer to its first gold medal since 1984 by beating Japan 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 in the quarterfinals of the women's volleyball tournament.

Lina Wang and Ping Zhang each scored 12 points for the Chinese, whose superior blocking and patient, controlled offence, guided by setter Feng Kun, were just too much for the Japanese.

Despite missing starting middle blocker Ruirui Zhao to a leg injury she re-aggravated in the first pool play match, China has had an easy time so far in the tournament, losing only a five-setter to Cuba.

"I should say that the level of both the players and the team has raised," coach Zhonghe Chen said through a translator.

Gamova delights

Ekaterina Gamova, Russia's 6-foot-8 opposite, had 24 points to led her team to a sweep over Korea, 25-17, 25-15, 25-22.

The tournament's tallest player and leading scorer, Gamova dominated the Koreans at the net, finishing with 18 kills and four service aces.

Serbs beat Greeks

In the men's section, defending gold medallist Serbia and Montenegro grabbed the top seed in its pool with a gruelling five-set victory against upstart Greece in the men's volleyball preliminaries.

Veteran Vladimir Grbic slammed the winning kill off blocker Theodoros Chatziantoniou, giving the Serbs the match at 21-25, 38-36, 25-13, 23-25, 15-12.

Serbia and Montenegro closed pool play with four straight wins after being swept by Poland on the first day.

Poland qualified for the last open spot in the medal round with a dramatic five-set victory against Argentina after starter Sebastian Swiderski sprained his ankle in the third set and couldn't continue.

The Poles' quarterfinal opponent will be Brazil, which had the top spot in Pool B locked up before losing to the United States in four sets — a match in which both teams played their reserves extensively.

In other quarterfinal matchups, Russia will take on Serbia and Montenegro and Italy goes up against Argentina. Brazil, if it beats Poland, would play the United States-Greece winner in the semifinals.

Russia held on for a five-set victory over Italy, but the Italians — by avoiding a sweep — won the tiebreaker and clinched second their pool.

France, which beat Tunisia in four sets, was eliminated with Poland's win. In a match with no bearing on the medal round, the Netherlands swept Australia.

Brazilians tough to beat

At full strength, the Brazilians will be tough to beat in the medal round. They're the only men's squad to appear in all 11 Olympic tournaments since the sport debuted at the 1964 Games in Tokyo.— AP

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