Cheered on by about 14,000 home fans, reigning women's volleyball champion China breezed past Olympic debutant Venezuela Saturday.
The South Americans scored the first point against their taller rivals with a quick spike, but the Chinese controlled the court to take the lead 4-3 with the spikes and blocks of star player Zhao Ruirui.
China's Ma Yunwen serves in the match against Venezuela August 9 2008. [Xinhua] |
The visitors were left with no time to respond to the Chinese players, who widened their advantage from 12-7 to 20-12 under the solid blocks and tricky drops of middle blocker Ma Yunwen and captain Feng Kun.
Venezuelan wing spiker Maria Jose Perez pulled back one point with a high spike, but another offense helped the Chinese win the opener 25-13.
Powerful service by wing spiker Wang Yimei helped China take the second set.
China sent its substitute squad on the court in the third set and took an early 4-1 lead, when Venezuela staged a stunning 5-2 run to catch up with 6-6. The two sides traded leads to tie at 9 before China led 12-9. The Chinese never looked back, winning the set and match with a cross-court spike of Wang and a service error by Venezuela.
Zhao, China's best scorer with 12 points, said she was satisfied with her performance.
The 1.96m middle blocker sat on the bench at the Athens after she had her knee injured at the first match of the Games. Her return is expected to add much hope for China to repeat its win four years ago.
"Today was the very first Olympic match for me in a real sense and I'm very excited to perform on the home court. I'm fighting for a well-deserved gold medal, match by match, with my teammates," Zhao said.
Meanwhile, World No 2 Italy beat Athens silver medalist Russia Saturday, while World No 1 Brazil won straight sets against Algeria.
Serbia beat Kazakhstan 3-1 Saturday in a pool B preliminary match between two Olympic women's volleyball debutants.
China faces European rising force Poland tomorrow, which lost its first match against Cuba early in the afternoon, while Venezuela will meet Japan.