BELGRADE, Feb. 6 -- China defeated Britain 86-76 in an exciting Group B opener of the Women's Olympic Basketball Qualifying Tournament here on Thursday.

In the beginning of the match at the Aleksandar Nikolic hall, in front of hundreds of Chinese fans including star Yao Ming and the Chinese ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo, China gained the lead thanks to fast points from Li Meng, whose precise shooting kept their opponents at a 4-point distance.

However Britain made a turnaround with two consecutive three-pointers from Chantelle Handy and soon built a 5-point lead of their own to seal the first period.

In the second quarter, the precise shooting of Han Xu and three-pointers of Wang Siyu and Li Yuan helped China to keep up the pace with Britain, and reduce their gap to 3 points at halftime (43-46).

China made a scoring series at the opening of the second half, and recovered the lead thanks to field goals of Shao Ting and three-pointers of Li Yuan and Wang Siyu.

Starting the final quarter with 6-point advantage, China expanded it further with a three-pointer of Huang Sijing for 73-64, making it impossible for the opponents to catch up.

Li Meng, Han Xu and Shao Ting scored 16 points each for the Chinese team, while on the other side, Temi Fagbenle scored 26 points and Johannah Leedham added 19 points.

Captain Shao Ting told Xinhua after the match that the team China played on the level it was trained for, and attacked according to coaches plans.

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