European powerhouse Romania breezily defeated host China 34-20 in their second game at Beijing Olympic women's handball event on Monday.
"Our performance was not as good as we have expected. We failed to add enough aggression in our defence. And some of our players were not in their best shape," said Chinese coach Kang Jae Won, who is a former S. Korean handballer and won the silver in the 1988 Seoul Games.
China's center back Li Weiwei, who topped the scoring list with eight goals in the last game against Norway, was sidelined due to slight leg injury. Her absence posed great trouble to the teammates, who found few ways to break through Romania's solid defence.
Although claiming the victory with a considerable gap, coach of Romania Gheorghe Tadici kept a cold mind.
"I don't want my players to feel over-relaxed because of previous wins. With still three games to go, we need to concentrate on the coming games. Our biggest threat is not other teams, but the inconsistency of our own team."
Romanian left back Laura Meirosu did not score the most goals, but she was the happiest one in the squad because she celebrated her 23th birthday today with an easy victory.
Carmen Amariel topped the scoring list with nine goals, while Wei Qiuxiang led the Chinese team with six goals.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)