World champions Brazil claimed their first World Cup title here yesterday when they swept Japan to finish the 2003 men's tournament with a perfect record.

With Serbia and Montenegro's 25-18, 21-25, 30-28 and 25-22 victory over Italy earlier yesterday handing the championship to the South Americans, Brazil eased past the hosts 25-17, 25-20 and 25-16 for their 11th straight victory at the round-robin tournament.

China beat Tunisia 3-1 for their second victory and a 10th-place finish at the World Cup.

Tang Miao and Hu Song scored 22 and 20 points respectively to help the Chinese snap their six-match losing streak with the 25-17, 24-26, 27-25, 31-29 win.

Brazilian players rejoiced over the well-deserved victory after Rodrigo Santana smashed home the match winner.

Italy and Serbia and Montenegro shared identical 9-2 records, while the European champions settled for the silver medal due to a superior set ratio. The top three finishers all qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Cheered on by more than 10,000 home fans, Japan played a spirited match but the World League title-holders proved to be too much for them.

The Japanese managed a 6-4 lead in the second set and stayed close at 17-15, but could not hold on.

After three straight wins at the start of the 12-team tournament, Japan lost eight in a row to settle for ninth place.

Good lessons

"We have learned a lot from this World Cup," said Chinese head coach Di An'he. "The experience we got here will help us prepare for the Olympic qualifying tournament next May."

"I am happy that our players were not affected by the previous losses," said the Chinese coach. "I am satisfied with the fighting spirit they showed on the court."

China, who had dropped nine of their 10 matches before yesterday's action, started strongly when they raced to a 21-12 lead in the opening set and coasted to victory.

The Asian runners-up continued their momentum early in the second set to go up 9-5, but Tunisia pulled it back to 12-12 with quality spiking by Hosni Karamosly. China rebuilt a 18-17 lead and stayed in front at 24-23, but the Tunisians ran off three unanswered points to take the set.

China led all the way for a 24-20 advantage in the third set, but then made consecutive errors on the offensive side to allow Tunisia back into the match at 24-24. A Tang Miao kill sent China ahead again 26-25 before Marouan Fehri spiked to the net to close the set.

Tunisia squandered a 19-15 lead in the fourth to see China go up 23-22 and 24-23. After Tang spiked out to return the lead to Tunisia, China beat off five set points on the back of powerful attacks from Shi Hairong and Hu Song to tie it at 29-29. Then Hu had a smash to award the Chinese a 30-29 advantage and Li Hang converted it by stuffing Noureddine Hfaiedh.

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