China's volleyball teams to face Japan for EAG medals

TIANJIN, China - China will take on Japan in the men's volleyball semifinals and the women's volleyball final at the 6th East Asian Games on Saturday.

China finished third in the men's volleyball round-robin preliminiaries and will play against Japan in the semifinals on Saturday. The other semifinals will be played between Chinese Taipei and South Korea.

The Chinese women's volleyball team beat the Hong Kong team 3-0 in the semifinals on Friday, and will face Japan, who also advanced into the final after a 3-1 win over DPR Korea, on Saturday.

"Though we won the match against the team of Hong Kong easily, the performance of our girls was not their best. We had a three-day rest before the semifinals. Today's match is a good opportunity for us to fine-tune our form," said coach Dong Ruijun.

"The young players of the Chinese men's volleyball team need more matches to improve teamwork. We will try to beat Japan in the semifinals," said Ju Genyin, head coach of the Chinese team.

Ju's team lost to Japan in the group competitions on Monday.