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Taipei,
September 23, 2011 – China added another gem to their extensive
collection of gold medals in the Asian Women’s Volleyball
Championship with a thrilling 3-1 (25-16, 25-17, 25-27, 25-17)
victory over Japan in the title match of the 16th edition Friday
evening at Taiwan University Gymnasium.
The
Championship doubled as a qualifier for both the FIVB Women's World
Cup 2011 and the FIVB World Grand Prix 2012. China, as champions,
will move onto the World Cup in Japan, while hosts Japan qualify
automatically. Bronze medallists Korea still have a chance to go to
Japan if their world ranking is higher than the runners-up in other
continental championships.
China’s
Wang Yimei was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament,
while teammates Yang Junjing and Wei Qiuyue were voted Best Blocker
and Best Server, respectively.
The
Chinese relied on effective blocks, strong attacks and killing serves
as they cruised through the first two sets with little resistance
from Japan. In the third set, China continued to have the upper hand
until 22-19 when Japan fought back and took the set as China touched
the net twice. Although Japan led in the early stages of the fourth
set, China rallied with solid blocks and relentless spikes, taking
the set, the match and the title.
Wing
spiker Wang Yimei and Hui Ruoqi led China with 18 points apiece,
while Best Blocker Yang Jujing added 12 points. Ma Yunwen and Zhang
Lei contributed 11 points each. Saori Kimura paced Japan with 19
points, while Saori Sakoda and Risa Shinnabe both contributed seven
points. China out-blocked Japan 15-4 and held a 4-3 service ace
advantage. In attacks the champions had the edge 52-49 and made 21
errors to 30 by Japan.
Information from FIVB
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