JAKARTA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- China beat Sri Lanka 3-1 to advance to the round of best 12 at the Asiad men's volleyball competition here on Saturday.
Following an unexpected loss to Vietnam and a narrow victory over Thailand, the match against Sri Lanka was vital for China to advance to the next round as top two of Pool E.
China got off to a flying start, leading Sri Lanka 5-1 just minutes into the first set, forcing Sri Lanka to call a time-out. After that, Sir Lanka tried to put their acts together, but failed to stop the Chinese who further enlarged the margin and ended the set 25-15.
The resilient Sri Lanka came back to claim three straight points at the beginning of the second set. China coach Shen Qiong called a time-out, and with improved blocking, China managed to level the score 4-4.
The two sides took turns to lead in the rest of the set, and despite another time-out and two replacements, China lost 20-25 following several strings of straight points by Sri Lanka.
The third and fourth sets saw the Chinese go all out to regain their momentum. They left the opponents no chance and sailed to the victory with 25-14 and 25-17, respectively.
China's Zhang Zhejia got 20 points to lead the game, including 11 spikes, 7 blocks and 2 serves. Li Liye, Yu Yuantai and Zhang Chen also scored double digits.
"Maybe it's because we thought our opponents were not so strong as they looked, we were a bit slack and lost the second set. But the important thing was that we readjusted ourselves and won the third set, " said captain Zhang Chen after the match.
"After our disastrous loss to Vietnam in the opening match, we reflected on the game and tried to learn for the loss. And we did better in the following two matches," he added.
With two victories and one loss, China holds the second place in Asian Games Pool E that groups China, Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
"Our opponents at the round of 12 will be decided through a draw this afternoon. Now anything is possible," said China coach Shen Qiong.
"That opening loss to Vietnam has waken us up. We do have some very experienced and excellent players. But the situation at the Asian Games is not as optimistic as we thought," he said.
"We have learnt a lot from that opening loss. Now we will just focus on doing our own best and play the next match as well as possible," he added.
