China’s team (in red) block Cubans’ offence. （CFP）
Written by Yangmin
Translated by Chen Wenqiong
Beijing—Dominators of the first two sets, Chinese female volleyballers eventually were plunged into a reverse 2-3 against Cubans. With 2 wins, 1 loss, the hopes for the Chinese volleyball team to advance from the group as No.1 has been extinguished. After the regrettable loss, Chinese girls still have two more stiff matches waiting ahead, one of which is against the U.S. A showdown between head coaches, Lang Ping and Chen Zhonghe, is going to catch worldwide attention.
Feng Kun, Chinese captain, was overwhelmed by the defeat. With tears in the eyes, she declined to say anything when passed the interview area until the postmatch press conference. “Both teams performed incredibly. Our opponents grabbed the critical chances, but we didn’t.”
Ma Yunwei, blocker scoring 15 points gave credit to Cuba’s serve, which hampered China’s first pass.
Chinese coach Chen Zhonghe conceded that, it was an out-and-out replay of the 2004 Athens Olympics—with a 2-0 leading momentum, China lost 3 sets in a row. But the strong girls didn’t give their later rivals a single victory ever since, heading straightly for the crown..
He gave a positive answer to his girls’performance, “Generally speaking, they’ve played their volleyball, the best ever since their plays against Poland and Venezuela.”The weak point was experienced Cubans indeed had a better performance on winning shots.
Attacker Wang Yimei and Cuban player Caldron both scored 26 while Zhao Ruirui pocketed a disappointing 12.