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| 31/08/02 Fivb Brazil cannot brake Chinese wall down China beat Brazil 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23) - duration 1:44 31-Aug, start time: 14:30, end time: 16:14 - Attendance: 4,500 Tournament favorite China overcame the first real offence during the 2002 Women's World Championship. The best team of Asia and winner of the 2001 World Grand Champions Cup defeated hard-fighting Brazil 3-1. It was the second straight victory the team of head coach Zhonghe Chan booked in this 24 teams event.Both teams started very determined, so the first set stayed open for quite a long time. Brazil's athletic style and good team spirit faced the powerful Chinese wall of blocks and powerfull spikes. But China proved to be more persistent in the first set, because of their better tactics. China won the set 25-23. At the beginning of the second set, Brazil forced China to call time out at 4-0. However, the advice of Chinese coach Chen Zonghe did not bring the change. Guided by team captain Karin Rodrigues, who played an excellent game today, Brazil dominated the set for a long time. But China came back with full force. Exciting up to the end, Brazil grasped the set at 25-23. The third set started without any favour for China or Brazil. After the first technical time out China gained slight advantage and expanded the lead from there. Without much resistance from their opponents, the Asian team made the crucial points up to the final score of 25-17. At the beginning of the fourth set China pressed for an early decision, but Brazil stayed close behind. After competitive rallies China was leading at the second technical time out (16-14). Coming close to China, Brazil drew the game at 22:22. China eventually won claiming the first match point (25-23). For China, this victory means that almost nobody can stop the Chinese team going to the second round. Hao Yang and Yuehong Zhang were both the best scorers with 16 points each. Ruirui Zhao made 14 points for her team and that was as much as the best Brazilian scorer Paula Pequeno. |
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| WHAT THEY SAID AFTER THE GAME... China 3, Brazil 1 Chen Zhonghe (Headcoach/CHN) I am very satisfied with my team. Two young teams faced each other today. Our attack and our block was better, but Brazil had the better defense." Hao Yang (Player/CHN): I am very happy that we won today. Our defense was not as good as the Brazilian defense. But our block was better and we made the important plays." Marco Motta (Headcoch/BRA): It was a very good and level game. Both teams are more or less equal. I am satisfied with my team although we lost. The Chinese block and receive was better in the crucial moments. But we will improve from game to game and I am confident that we can win against China and maybe we will already win the next encounter." Paula Pequeno (Player/BRA): It was a very good and exciting game with a high quality. We made a lot of mistakes, but we will learn from the game and will play better next time." |