China fought bravely but lost at the end in a fight-set thriller against Canada at the 2003 men's volleyball World Cup on Friday.

The inexperienced Chinese men, who averaged less than 23 years in age, delivered their most exciting performance at the round- robin tournament so far, but could not hold on at crucial time.

The Asian runners-up led 11-8 and 13-12 in the tiebreaker before Canada ran off three straight points for the victory in two hours and eight minutes.

Murray Grapentine emerged as the hero of the Canadians as he leveled it at 13-all with a spike and then stuffed Chinese Tang Miao and Shi Hairong in a row to clinch the second win of the North Americans in five matches.

"I saw the Chinese setter (He Jiong) deliver balls the same way through the match, one from the right side, then one from the left side," Grapentine said at the press conference. "I just got to the position in time and put up my arms."

Grapentine finished with four blocks to score 19 points for Canada, who were led by Sebastien Ruette's 32 points. "We played well today," said Chinese head coach Di An'he after their fourth loss in five ties.

"But we could not convert the opportunities at crucial points."

Di's Canadian counterpart Stelio Derocco thought the Chinese team would have a great future. "China is a big team, a young team and it will have a great future," Derocco said. "They played very good volleyball tonight."

Tang made 29 kills in the match to lead China with 31 points and Shen Qiong added 23.

Canada staged a 6-2 run late in the first set to go up 23-21, but Ruette's serving mistake and an ace from Shen allowed the Chinese back at 23-23. After Grapentine awarded Canada their first set point with a smash, Zhang Xiaodong made an error in receiving to surrender the opener.

The Canadians continued their momentum early in the second set as they raced to a 14-10 lead. But Shen had one kill and two aces to lead a Chinese surge that leveled the score at 14-all.

After the two sides fighting to a 24-24 tie, Shen smashed a ball home to give China the edge and Zhang Xiaodong and He Jiong converted it with a block.

With China trailing 15-7 in the third set, head coach Di replaced He Jiong with Li Chun as setter and introduced Li Hang to the game for the first time at the tournament. Li Chun's setting and Li Hang's blocking helped China find their rhythm and steadily surge back for a 24-23 lead.

Canada withstood 11 set points, but China converted the 12th as Li Chun stuffed Chris Wolfenden to clinch the third set at 36-34.

The Canadians led all the way to take the fourth set 25-22, forcing the tiebreaker.

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