Taipei, Chinese Taipei, September 23, 2008 --- China grabbed an important victory over Korea and New Zealand tasted their first win at the 14th Asian Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship held in Taipei’s T.U.C. Hall here on Wednesday while the Host Chinese Taipei and Japan are still in the lead of pool A and B, staying on top as the only two unbeatenteams respectively.

In Pool A, Chinese Taipei, Bronze medal winner at the 13th Asian Women’s Junior Volleyball Championship, placed the first with a perfect recod of four wins and no defeat at eight points after crushing Australia in straight sets 25-11, 25-13, 25-14 in thei last group match. The host girls passed through the Aussies without much difficulty. Although the taller Australian girls gave the host some troubles in the beginning of the first and the third sets, they still lost to Chinese Taipei, suffering their third defeat In a row.

Host Chinese Taipei now ends on top in pool A without losing a single set in the preliminary round. When asked

about how he thinks about his team’s performance so far, head coach Sakakuchi Norimasa commented: “Chinese

Taipei has now exhibited 50% of their actual strength in the game; another half will come out in the next round.”

As for they might encounter China very possibly in the second round, coach Sakakuchi said: “Though my team is

shorter compared to them, we will exert ourselves to win and prove that playing volleyball does not entirely depend

on height.”

Thailand secured their second win after losing to the host Chinese Taipei yesterday, downing Kazakhstan in straight sets 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-19). Thailand will play against Indonesia, who had a bye fourth round to vie for the second place of the group, in their last match of the preliminary round..

In Pool B, China beat Korea 3-1(25-15, 25-16, 24-26, 25-16) and Japan, strengthened by No.4 Minemura Saki’s formidable jump serves, crushed India 3-0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-5).

New Zealand tasted their first win in the tournament, beating Sri Lanka 3-0(25-20, 25-17, 25-13) in Pool B. Sri Lanka’s defense was dissolved by New Zealand’s powerful spikes and height, thus contributing to New Zealand’s first win in the tournament.

In the second match of the day, the fearless Korea and defending Champion China enganged in a ferious battle in order to fight for the second place in pool B. China, with their overwhelming height, took the lead in the first set and forced two time-outs out of Korea; drawing near to the end of the set, Korea was still not able to penetrate the blocking wall of China, and their first-passing was also weakened by the strong serving and spiking from China. China took the set 25-15 and continued their vigor in the second set, China took advantage of Korea's several serving errors, while korea coild not display their spped volleyball technique owing to a lack of effective first passing, thus the set was gained by China..

The power of China No.9 Fan Linlin and No.5 Hui Ruoqi’s spikes from the left side was unstoppable. Nevertheless, led by No.12 Joo Yea Na’s spikes, team Korea finally got the lead 20-18, and at last was able to keep the set 26-24.

The two teams ofught point by point and levelled the scores in the third set untill Korea made too many serving errors and China widened the score gap after the second technical time-out. From then on the rest of the set was controlled by China, who eventually obtained victory over Korea 3-1 .

“We did not seize some critical points in this match, or the result might not be the like this,” said Chinese head coach Cai

Bin. “We selected these players from all over the country and their height was our first concern; though now these players

might not be as skillful as those in Japan and Korea, they have more potential when they have to compete internationally

in the future.”

When inquired about team China’s chance of winning in the tournament and who their targeted rivals are, he commented:

“Teams such as Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and us all have equal chance in this game.Regarding No.5 Hui

Rouqi, who played flawlessly today, head coach of China approved her superior height and fighting spirit in the games, “but

to become a real great player, she still has many obstacles to conquer.”

The last day’s fixtures”

Indonesia wiil meet Thailand and Australia play against Kazakhstan in Pool A while Japan, China and Korea are to fight

Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand respectively in Pool B.

The group standings after the fourth round are as follows (tabulated under matches played, won, lost and points):

Pool A

Chinese Taipei 4 4 0 8

Indonesia 3 2 1 5

Thailand 3 2 1 5

Australia 3 0 3 3

Kazakhsta 3 0 3 3

Pool B

Japan 4 4 0 8

China 4 3 1 7

Korea 4 2 2 6

India 4 1 3 5

Sri Lanka 4 1 3 5

New Zealand 4 1 3 5