China eases to opening victory at World Schools Volleyball Championships
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Chinese girls took an easy victory in their opening match at the 2010 World Schools Volleyball Championships kicking off?in Baotou?on Sunday.
The team from Baotou No.1 Middle School swept Israel 25-14 and 25-15 in the first match of Group D. Retired star hitter Zhao Ruirui, who won the Athens Olympic gold medal with the Chinese team, served the first ball of the match.
"It' s a good start for us," said China head coach Hao Zhensheng. "Our players were a little bit nervous at the beginning, but they played better and better as game went on."
Finishing fifth at the last edition of the biennial tournament in Italy, the Chinese girls were bracketed with Israel, Hungry, Poland and Cyprus in the preliminaries this time with top two finishers from the group to advance into quarterfinals.
"I am confident we can make it to the knock-out stage, but from then on it will be really difficult to move on," Hao added. "We will just try our best and enjoy the game."
The Chinese girls will play Poland in their next group match Monday morning against Poland.
A total of 43 boys and girls' teams from 23 countries and regions are taking part in the tournament, which will run through July 3.
