JAKARTA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese women's volleyball team clinched its third victory at the Asian Games, sweeping defending champions South Korea 25-21, 25-16, 25-16 here on Thursday.
The match has attracted much attention following the Chinese Olympic champions' unexpected loss to South Korea in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League in May.
South Korea led the first set initially, entering the first technical timeout 8-7. But thanks to Zhu Ting's powerful spikes, the Chinese team turned the tide to enter the second technical timeout 16-14, and after that, boosted offense to win 25-21.
In the second set, the Chinese continued the momentum and led 12-10, before the South Koreans led by star spiker Kim Yeonkoung evened the score 13-13. After that, China again managed to expand the gap and with two strings of straight points, won the set 25-16.
In the third set, the desperate South Koreans came back fiercely and led 5-2. With a timeout, the Chinese team had some adjustment but failed to stop the opponents who further expanded the margin 13-10.
After that, China coach Lang Ping made three replacements which turned out effective, and seven straight points turned the tide and helped China win 25-16.
China's Zhu Ting got 18 points to lead the game, including 14 spikes, 3 blocks and 1 serve. Yuan Xinyue and Liu Xiaotong also scored double digits.
South Korea had two players scoring in double figures led by team captain Kim Yeonkoung.
"China played very well today, especially in service and reception," said Kim after the match.
She especially spoke highly of Chinese spiker Zhu Ting. "In important and difficult moments, Zhu aways got the ball and made the point," she said.
"I really hope we can meet China in the final," she added.
Yuan Xinyue, the Chinese blocker, said that the match was not actually an easy one, but the Chinese did well due to their good preparation.
"We have made special preparation targeting each scorer of our opponents. Today, it's due to the efforts of the whole team that we were able to block the attacks of the opponents," she said.
With three victories in a row, China now holds the first place in Asian Games Group B composing of China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and India.
Group A composes of five teams including Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong, China.
The top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
