体坛英语资讯：China, Russia keep up winning streak in World Grand Prix_娱乐

体坛英语资讯：China, Russia keep up winning streak in World Grand Prix

China eased past South Korea in straight sets to improve its win-loss record to 2-0 at the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix here on Saturday. Cheered on by raucous home spectators at the Beilun Sports and Arts Center, the Chinese women scored a lopsided 25-15, 25-21, 25- 14 victory.

Six-time world champion Russia joined China as the undefeated team in the competition after fending off a spirited challenge from the Dominican Republic for a 25-21, 25-27, 19-25, 25-11, 15-10 win.

China and Russia will renew their rivalry when they meet on Sunday to decide the winner of the four-team, round robin competition. The Russians lost to China twice in the past two Olympics - the gold medal match in Athens and the quarterfinal in Beijing.

China's Wang Yimei was the star of the match, scoring a game-high 18 points. Ma Yunwen added 11 points and Xue Ming 10 points for the Chinese. Kime Yeon-Koung top-scored for South Korea with 11 points.

Wang was highly efficient in the first set, where she won 10 points through her hard-hitting spikes.

"She (Wang) was very powerful in attack, and we could not find a solution," said South Korea coach Lee Sung-hee.

China's coach Cai Bin said he was not satisfied with his young team despite the comfortable victory.

"My players were not fully focused in the third set when leading by a big margin. It was dangerous. I will not allow that to repeat in future," said Cai.

The Russia vs Dominican Republic match started with a see-saw affair as the teams traded leads in the first set until Russia went ahead 14-11 and never looked back.

The Dominicans, the only team that has ever this year defeated world top-ranked Brazil, show their quality in the second and third sets, which a series of scintillating spikes by Pena Bethania de De La Cruz held Russia at bay.

Russia rebounded strongly in the fourth set, establishing an 8-3 lead at the first technical timeout and stretched it thereafter before taking it by a two-digit margin.

In the crucial fifth set, Russia maintained its momentum to open with a 3-1 lead. Dominican Republic managed to level at 6-6 but the Russians girls stayed calm and closed the door on any comeback attempt with solid blocking and hard-hitting smashes.

Dominican wing spiker Pena Bethania de De La Cruz led all scorers with 24 points, including an array of 19 kills, while Russian Tatiana Kosheleva was the best scorer of her team with 23 points.

Twelve teams are competing in the World Grand Prix series this season. After each team plays three rounds, the top five as well as hosts Japan will qualify for the Grand Prix final round to be played in Tokyo, Japan from August 19-23.