China to Play US for Women's Volleyball Grand Prix Title

China to Play US for Women's Volleyball Grand Prix Title

---

Former world and Olympic champions China upset defending champions Cuba 3-1 in the semi- finals on Saturday, setting a title clash against the United States, at the FIVB Women's World Grand Prix Finals in Macao on Sunday.

In an earlier semi-final, the American team overcame Olympic silver-medallists Russia 3-2 to move closer to a possible second victory in the event.They won in 1995 in Shanghai.

Cuba will then play Russia in a Sunday afternoon play-off for the third place.

Olympic champions Cuba started well today, dominating most of the opening set to win 25-18. But the Chinese took the two following sets 25-21, 25-22.

The Chinese combined fierce attacks with a tricky play in the fourth, leading up to 22-14. The experienced Cubans narrowed the gap to only one point at 23-24, before China winning one more point to seal the set 25-23 and the match.

The US team struggled to win opening sets 25-22 and 28-26, but lost the next two to high-leaping Russians 21-25 and 25-27.The Americans refused to let the game go the Russian way in the decider and led throughout to win the set 15-9 and the match.

American Danielle Scott scored 28 points to the 18 by Russian Eugenia Artamonova.

Chinese spiker Yang Hao and Cuban captain Yumilka Ruiz scored an identical total of 21 points.

"With Cuba being a very good team, we won the match due to a better mental state and a consistent play.Our players were too anxious in the first set but improved their game later," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe.

"With an Olympic line-up good at blocking and defence, the US team had made progress day by day in the Finals.We had to break their service, setting and fast attacks tomorrow," he said.

"China has been on the rise these days, with a steady game.They are worthy of the win," said Cuban assistant coach Felipe Calderon.

"The Russians are one of the strongest teams for many years," said US head coach Toshiaki Yoshida. "I am very happy with the victory and hope we can keep the momentum from now on."

"The US team have some weak points compared with the Cubans. We are not a consistent team, so we need further improvement," he added.

Russian head coach Nikolai Karpol blamed injuries and poor preparations for the defeat.With five players out of training after surgeries in June, Karpol also criticised some Russians as being not concentrated enough in today's match.

"We are here mainly to prepare for next year's European championships and I hope for a better show in the world championships (in November in Japan)," he added.

China entered the GP Finals as the top ranked side, followed by the U.S, and China had beaten US 3-1 in the preliminaries in Harbin, Northeast China.