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Indomitable Chinese team reigned supreme in the third Asian Youth
Girls Volleyball Championship, beating two-time world champions
Japanese team 25-19, 25-14 and 25- 18 in the final held Monday night
in Thailand's Trang province, 828 kilometers south of Bangkok, according
to local media reports.
The Chinese girls, who fielded taller players than their rivals,
played a strong back-court game and some brilliant net play to win
the first set.
Continuing their run of not conceding a set in the tournament,
China tore Japanese defense to pieces in the second set. Power-
hitters Huang Huiping and Yang Shuang took turns to unleash thundering
smashes to make it 2-0.
China, who finished a disappointing 5th at the 1999 World Youth
Girls Volleyball Championship in Portugal, had a point to prove
to Japan, winners of the world title in 1995 and 1999.
Although Japan showed signs of coming back into the match in the
third set, they could not penetrate the effective blocks by Chinese
girls.
Huang, who led the defense then combined with Lu Yan in offense
as China sealed the Japanese fate with a 25-18 victory.
Earlier, in the third-place play-off, South Korea rallied to beat
Chinese Taipei.
China, Japan and South Korea will represent the continent in the
2001 World Youth Girls Volleyball Championship, to be held in August
in Croatia.
Huang Huiping also swept four individual awards -- the Best Attacker,
the Best Blocker, the Best Scorer and Most Valuable Player. Teammates
Lu Yan and Zhang Qian won the Best Server and the Best Setter awards
respectively.
??People's Daily 04/24/2001??
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