SAPPORO, Japan - Olympic and World Cup champion China opened its quest for the women's volleyball world championship title with a lopsided victory over Azerbaijan in a Pool B match here on Tuesday.

Chinese players celebrate after beating Azerbaijan 3-1 at their first Pool B match of the Women's Volleyball World Championships in Sapporo, Japan October 31, 2006. [Xinhua]

As the Olympic champions, the Chinese women's team proved a class above their Europe opponents, winning by 25-23, 24-26, 25-16 and 25-22 in less than two hours.

Natalya Mammadova led the game with 20 spikes, two blocks and one serves for Azerbaijan, while Yelena Shabovta added 16 points.

Azerbaijan displayed plenty of world-class spikes and blockings but were unable to turn their effort into victory.

After leading with 17-14 in the opening set, China continued their steadily performance to take the lead with 25-23. But Azerbaijan was inspired by the first set defeat and took an early 3-1 lead in the second before China fought back to level it at 5-5.

Then China had a 4-0 run with Wang Yimei and Yang Hao leading from the front, but their opponents refused to concede, battling back with renewed vigor and eventually taking the set with 26-24 to level the match at 1-1.

The Chinese team eventually prevailed after losing the second set as they established a 16-9 lead in the third with powerful serving and attackings. Azerbaijan failed to match the intensity of their second-set performance and lost the set 25-16.

Azerbaijan tried to claw back in the fourth but the Chinese player stayed calm and made few mistakes. A serve by Wang Yimei helped China to match point and Yang Hao emerged with a classic smash to win the match for China in one hour 45 minutes.

Wang Yimei led the Chinese team with 17 points while her outside attacker partner Yang Hao had 17 points.