China routs Netherlands at FIVB Women's World Championship

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Europe

01:55

China routed the Netherlands with a dominating 3-0 performance (25-22, 25-19 and 25-14) to claim the bronze medal at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship on Saturday.

China had a stagnant start with a 7-8 set at the opening technical timeout (TTO) but chased back to 16-13 into the second TTO thanks to effective services and fast spikes. China then kept a three point advantage winning a 25-22 set.

In the second set, China fired up their offense with an 8-5 lead into the first TTO, and went to the second TTO with a 16-12 set. After the break, China enlarged the gap to take an easy 25-19 win.

In the third set, China established an eight point advantage at the second TTO and enlarged the gap with a final score of 25-14 for 3-0.

Captain of Chinese team Zhu Ting (L) and Head Coach Lang Ping (R) /VCG Photo

"Of course we need to improve ourselves in many aspects. But as we know, the teams playing here are all very strong, and I think it's not bad for us to get a bronze medal," said Lang Ping after the game.

"We have achieved a lot here and the biggest gain was that by playing against strong teams, we gathered experience. We could also feel the improvement of the world's volleyball level," she said.

China lost to Italy twice in the tournament. once in the group stage and once in the semi-finals. Regarding the losses, Lang said that her team had done their best. "Sometimes, losing is not necessarily a bad thing. It shows that we are lagging behind and need to make more effort," she said.

As for how to improve the team, Lang said that the team cannot just rely on the attacks of Zhu Ting, but needs to have more attackers from the wings.

"We will have some rest first after the tournament, and then we will think about what to do next," she said.

China won two titles at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in 1982 and 1986 respectively. This year is the first time the Chinese team won bronze at the tournament, which is held every four years.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency