2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: China

China unbeaten in Women's World Championship Asia Group A

Ningbo, China, August 7, 2005 - The Chinese women's Volleyball team wrapped up its world championship Asian first round tournament campaign with four consecutive victories after beating Chinese Taipei in straight sets on the final day of Asia Group A here on Sunday. Both teams earned tickets to the World Championship finals in Japan.

The Asia leg of the women’s World Championship has finished with four teams booking tickets to the finals of 2006 World Championship. They are Korea and Kazakhstan from Asia Group B which was held in Thailand, and China and Chinese Taipei. The four teams and hosts Japan will represent Asia in the world ‘s most important Volleyball gala next year.

In the match on Sunday, the Olympic and World Cup champions China won by 25-15, 25-13, 25-22 in 70 minutes to finish in first place in the five-team group.

After the match Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe paid tribute to the Chinese Taipei team. "Compared with other teams in the group, Chinese Taipei is the strongest rival against China," Chen said. Chen, who steered China to back-to-back triumphs in the 2003 World Cup and last year's Athens Olympics, took the first round tournament as a good chance to test his young players and experiment new tactics for next year's world championship.

"Our weak points were exposed in today's match again. Inconsistency is still the problem of young players. They need to train harder to make to the starting line-up," he said. "We have a more profound knowledge about what we need to improve through this game. Even though we lost, I feel proud of my team. I believe we will become more experienced and stronger," said Lin Kuang Hung, head coach of Chinese Taipei.

Uzbekistan claimed its first victory when it defeated Jordan 3- 0 on Sunday. With the victory, Uzbekistan finished fourth in the five-team tournament, while Jordan at the bottom. Both teams missed out on places in the world championship to be held October 31- November 16 in Japan. Australia finished third with two wins and two defeats.