China's bitter run at the women's volleyball World Grand Prix final round continued on Friday as they were defeated by Russia in four sets.
China, who had lost to the Netherlands and Brazil earlier in the six tem round-robin competition, started bravely against Russia by taking the first set 29-27, but failed to maintain their momentum and lost 25-16 and 25-19 in the second and third sets.
In the fourth set, China found back some strength but were unable to prevent the Russians from winning 25-23.
"We made too many mistakes today. Some are those we would never have made even during training, because our young players lack experience in important international matches," said Cai Bin, head coach of the Chinese team.
"But I am happy the players didn't lose their spirits. As a young team, the spirit is what you can count on to make you improve," he added.
Despite winning the match, Russian head coach Vladimir Kuzyutkin was far from satisfaction.
"I am not satisfied with the way we played today. We won because the Chinese didn't play well," he said.
In another game Friday afternoon, Beijing Olympic champion Brazil upset Germany 3-0.
On Saturday, China will play host Japan and Russia will take on Germany.
(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2009)
