China hammered Russia 3-0 in Andria, Italy on Sunday to win their first title at the women's volleyball World Grand Prix.

 

China beat the defending champions 25-22, 28-26 and 25-21 to record their fifth straight win in the round-robin final round competitions of the 2003 edition of the annual tournament, which was inaugurated in 1993.

 

"We are very happy to win our first Grand Prix title," said a joyful Chinese coach Chen Zhonghe. "We played well today and we did a job in serving, blocking and defense."

 

"The Russian team did not play to their best today," he added.

 

The Chinese showed a balanced offense with five players scoring in double digits. Zhao Ruirui led China with 16 points, Zhou Suhong added 11 and Yang Hao, Wang Li'na and Liu Ya'nan contributed 10 each.

 

Evguen Artamonova converted on 61 percent of her attack opportunities for 23 points, only to see Russia have their eight game winning streak in the tournament ended.

 

Russia head coach Nikolai Karpol thought the Chinese team had improved a lot, especially in defense.

 

"They are getting stronger," he said. "They play better defense than before."

 

China went out strongly against the Russians, who beat them 3-1 in the preliminaries. After Chinese captain Feng Kun teamed up with Zhao Ruirui to stuff consecutive spikes from Artamonova and towering Ekaterina Gamova, Yang Hao's service and Zhao's spike gave China a 20-16 edge in the first set.

 

Russia ran off three points to pull within 24-22, but Yang Hao slammed home the ball to end the Russian run and secure the opener for China.

 

China started the second set with a 6-1 run and held on for a 20-16 lead. Russia surged back with a 5-0 run to make it 21-20 before China went ahead 22-21 through Wang Li'na and Zhou Suhong. Russia withstood three set points but China converted on the fourth when Wang smashed two balls home in a row.

 

The two sides exchanged runs in the third set before China went up 22-20. After Gamova pulled Russia within 23-21, China ran off two consecutive points to conclude the match in one hour and 15 minutes.

 

Earlier on Sunday, the United States beat the Netherlands 3-0 to finish third. The Americans won the match 25-22, 25-20 and 28-26 for the bronze medal with three wins against two losses.

 

The hosts and reigning world champions Italy overpowered South Korea 3-1 on Sunday for their first win in the final round and a fifth place finish. South Korea, the top finishers from preliminary group B, had to settle for the bottom after their fifth straight defeat in the six-team final round.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2003)