Korea maintain impressive
form
 Macau,
China, July 24, 2005 - Korea looked mightily impressive on
the second day of the Girls' U18 World Championship on
Sunday. They followed up their nail-biting 3-2 victory over
two-time defending champions China on Saturday night by
powering past Austria 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 29-27) in Pool B.
Champions of this tournament in 1991 in Portugal, Korea must
have a good chance to win here after such an impressive
start. Head coach Ahn Byung-Man thinks they can only get
better.
"The players are young and they are still adapting to the
conditions," he said, after the victory over Austria. "We
will play better tomorrow, and after that."
When asked if he thought Korea could win the title for a
second time, Ahn remained guarded.
"I have seen Italy and Brazil and they look very powerful,"
he said. "I think those two, with Korea and China, will be
in the semi-finals.
"If we get there we can start thinking about the final."
Also in Pool B, China went through another five-setter, but
this time finished strongly to hold off Ukraine 3-2 (29-27,
16-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12).
Ukraine had led 2-1 in sets and looked the stronger team,
but China rallied to improve their win-loss record to 1-1.
Korea lead the way in Pool B at 2-0, while the unlucky
Ukraine dropped to 0-2. Austria are 1-1.
Only the bottom team in each of the four pools goes home on
the completion of the preliminary round on Monday.
In Pool A, also played at Macau East Asian Games Dome,
Croatia breezed past the plucky hosts Macau 3-0 as did
Argentina against Egypt.
The other two pools are being played at Tap Seac Multisport
Pavilion. In Pool C, Belarus won for the second consecutive
day, beating Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-12, 25-18, 20-25, 25-19).
Puerto Rico slipped to 0-2.
Russia, beaten 3-2 the previous day by Belarus, bounced back
by defeating 1997 champions Brazil 3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 25-15,
25-23) thanks to 22 points from Natalia Dianskaya, including
nine blocks.
In Pool D, the United States overpowered Chinese Taipei 3-0
(25-15, 32-30, 25-17) to move to 2-0, while Italy beat
Tunisia 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-12). |
Competition Formula
