China beats Japan to retain Asiad women's volleyball title

Hu Jun

Defending champion China beat an under-strength Japan in straight sets at the Hangzhou Asian Games to retain its Asiad women's volleyball title here on Saturday evening.

Yuan Xinyue had 18 points to lift China over Japan 25-15, 25-21, 25-21 in the final, with Li Yingying, Wang Yuanyuan and Gong Xiangyu adding 16, 12 and 10 respectively.

China took 11 points from blocking, compared to none for Japan.

"I am happy for my players. Their efforts paid off," said China head coach Cai Bin. "I am satisfied with our consistence and mentality in this Asian Games. I think if we can keep calm and keep doing whatever we should do on the court, the results will turn out to be good for us."

Falling behind 6-3 in the opening set, China staged a 10-0 run on back of strong serves of Wang Yunlu to overtake the lead at 13-6 and never looked back.

In the second set, China jumped into a 9-4 lead and held it to 12-7 before Japan took three points in a row to cut it to 12-10. It was 23-21 in favor of China late in the set, and Yuan Xinyue had a smash and Li Yingying added a kill to help China make it two sets to nil.

Japan stayed within 20-18 in the third set, only to see China wrap up the match with a 5-3 burst.

Miyu Nakagawa had 11 points to lead Japan, who was playing with its second-string squad in Hangzhou.

Earlier on Saturday, Thailand swept Vietnam 3-0 for the bronze medal.