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China clinch dream title of women's volleyball
China embraced its first volleyball Olympic title in 20 years after beating Russia 3-2 on Saturday to finish the women's tournament at the Athens Olympic Game. After trailing two sets, China came from behind to trounce Russia 28-30, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23 and 15-12 to claim the title.
The Chinese took an early lead but Ekaterina Gamova's three consecutive points helped Russia catch up to 18-18. After tied at 24-24, both teams beat off four set-points and it was Gamova again spiked home the final point of the set for Russia. Russia replay the scenario again at the second set when they made a 6-2 run after fell behind with 15-17, Gamova scored three points in a row to make it 22-20. Two blocks from Irina Tebenikhina and Shashkova led Russia to a 26-25 advantage and an attacking error from China allow Russia claim the second set win 27-25. The Chinese team came out in the third set and quickly opened a 8-5 lead. Coach Chen Zhonghe started to find her attackers regularly, particularly Zhang Yuehong, who scored three points in a row to maintain the slight lead 17-14 for China.
With Zhang Ping's serving points, China finally grabbed one set back with 25-20. China started the fourth set trying to gain an edge but Russia wouldn't surrender. China soon held the lead with 10-6 but Russia quickly answered back with a 5-1 run. After tied at 20-20, both teams played more evenly, as Russia led at 23-21 before China, to the surprise of all, managed a 4-0 run to force Russia into the deciding fifth set.
In the tiebreak and still neither team would budge, until Feng Kun scored with a spike to help China lead 5-3. Despite Russia made their last try at 11-12, China eventually sealed the match with a Zhang Yuhong's excellent spike to fantastic scenes of jubilation. |
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