Roundup: Host China suffers first loss, favorites Brazil, Cuba undefeated

Three-time Olympic champion Cuba staged an inspiring comeback from two sets down to give the host China its first loss in women's volleyball preliminaries on Tuesday.

It took the South Americans more than two hours to claim their third consecutive victory 18-25, 14-25, 25-23, 32-30 and 15-13 despite the overwhelming cheers of more than 15,000 home fans for the Chinese.

"My players have given their best at the court and played well at the first two sets, but Cuba is more experienced than us to handle the crucial points. Their powerful serves also caused great troubles to our reception," said China's head coach Chen Zhonghe.

Showing satisfaction with his players, Cuba head coach Antonio Perdomo also gave credit to their rivals.

"We had to play with extraordinary effort to reach the high level of China. If we meet again in the future I'm still not sure who will win," said Perdomo.

The two teams, both unbeatable after two preliminary rounds, need to win this match to ensure a better position in the quarterfinals. However, Cuba's high jumpers were proved a cut above the host, especially on defending in the latter part of the match.

Rosir Calderon and China's Wang Yimei are best scorers of the two teams, both contributing 26 points.

Earlier in the day, World's No. 1 Brazil showed their great potential for its first-ever gold medal after romping past European runner-up Serbia 3-0.With the third consecutive straight-sets win,Brazil has the quarterfinals.

Following easy victories over Algeria and Russia, the Brazilians continued to show their dominance in the 25-15, 25-13 and 25-23 sweep of the Serbian women, who stunned the world by winning the bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships.

Even Roberto Guimaraes, who led Brazil to the victory in the 2008 World Grand Prix Finals in July, was surprised by his players' superb performance.

"We have improved our blocking, defense and serving since the World Grand Prix final round and I don't know what else we can improve on," he added. "I just hope that we can keep playing like this."

As Brazil and Cuba heading confidently to the quarterfinals, another favorite Russia still have long way to go.

After losing to Italy and Brazil in its first two matches,Russia trounced Kazakhstan 3-0 to revive its chance to enter the quarterfinals.Kazakhsta has yet to record a win in three tries in the round-robin play.

"I am very happy for the victory, we played better and better in the last two games," said Russia head coach Giovanni Caprara. "I am confident that we can make the quarterfinals and even go further."

Like the Russians, the United States staggers in women's volleyball preliminaries with risky victory over Olympic newcomer Venezuela 3-1, keeping their hope to the quarterfinals alive after this second win.

The Americans, beaten by Cuba 3-0 on Monday, could barely realize their goal of "bringing a medal home" if they lost this match, as they are facing much stronger China and Poland in the rest two preliminaries.

"It's going to be a very tough game. China is the host and they play very well," said China-born U.S. head coach Jenny Lang Ping. "Though I do know well of the Chinese team, it's the players to play the game, not me. We just get well prepared and try to play the best."

Venezuela is hardly to get survived from the preliminaries after losing their third match, but the team's head coach Tomas Fernandez sees the future.

"Our players have an average age of just over 18. In the next Olympic games, when the other teams have to change over their players, we won't have to change our squad," said the coach.

In the first match of the day, Italy powered to a straight-set victory over inexperienced Algeria. The north Africans, however, showed great fighting spirit to score 20 points in the second set, the highest in their three preliminaries.

Japan ended Tuesday's fierce competition with a 3-2 victory over Poland. The hard-earned win saved Japan's hope to enter the final eight with a 1-2 win-loss record. While Poland's chance to go further turned slim after the third loss.

Twelve teams are competing in two groups in the preliminary round with top four finishers from each group to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Host China is in Pool A together with Cuba, Japan, Poland, United States and Venezuela, while Italy, Algeria, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia and Serbia are in Pool B. The knockout stage runs from Aug. 19 to 23.

中国队１３日晚在２：０领先的大好局面下被古巴队顽强地以３：２逆转，遭遇在北京奥运会上的首场失利。与此同时，中国队夺取小组第一的前景也变得十分黯淡。

赢得三连胜的古巴队将在后两场小组赛中迎战实力较弱的日本队和委内瑞拉队，锁定小组第一的位置对她们来说没有太大难度。由于两个小组的第二和第三名在四分之一决赛中的对阵形势将通过抽签来决定，中国队在八强战中的对手或许会变得扑朔迷离。

中古之战几乎就是Ａ组第一名的争夺战。中国队在前两局顺利地以２５：１８和２５：１４大胜之后，被古巴队顽强地拖入决胜局。在最后的决胜局中，中国队曾以３：０和１１：１０领先，但是全场大部分时间在板凳上度过的卡里罗突然上场之后成功封堵了王一梅的一次重扣，帮助古巴队将比分反超为１２：１１。１３平之后，王一梅发球出界，桑切斯又在反击中得手，结束了这场令人窒息的五局大战。

赛后，中国队的大将周苏红说，中国队从第三局开始发球和一传出现问题，导致被对手逆转。尤其是在决胜局的时候，对方的几次发球直接得分决定了最后的结果。中国队主教练陈忠和则表示，中国队打出了应有的水平，但是关键时刻古巴队更老练，更能抓住机会。

古巴队在上一场比赛中凭借出色的发球以３：０横扫郎平率领的美国队，但是在本场比赛前两局完全不在状态。中国队的开场阵容和前两场一样，马蕴雯和李娟继续首发。在首局打成３平之后，中国队的有效拦网令古巴队进攻受阻，中国队则在反击中连续得分。凭借一轮８：３的进攻高潮，中国队以１１：６领先。

面对１·３万名主场球迷，古巴队显得有些紧张，失误频频。在进攻方面，只有路易斯和卡尔德隆两个火力点比较有保障。在７：１３落后的情况下，古巴队主教练佩尔多莫用老将巴罗斯替下了首发副攻桑切斯，然而并没能立即扭转场上局势。当中国队２３：１８领先的时候，巴罗斯的一个发球失误和一次一传失误让中国队顺利拿下首局。

第二局刚开始，古巴队的发挥比较稳定，比分咬得很紧。但是，当中国队１１：９领先的时候，马蕴雯所发的飘球让古巴队陷入困境，一传连续出现失误。中国队连得４分，把领先优势扩大为１５：９。此后，古巴队全线崩溃，好像完全不会打球一样。中国队乘胜追击，以２５：１４再下一城。

第三局前半段，中国队继续有着良好的表现。当中国队以１３：７领先的时候，人们都以为这场比赛将以中国队横扫古巴队而结束。然而，古巴队的发球威力终于开始展现。依靠巴罗斯和桑托斯的两轮超级强大的发球，古巴队打出１１：２的得分高潮，一举将比分反超为１９：１５。中国队顽强地追成了２３：２４，但是路易斯以一记有力的重扣为古巴队扳回一局。

在第四局比赛中，双方多次交替领先，争夺进入白热化。当赵蕊蕊的快球进攻把比分变成２４：２３之后，古巴队依靠卡尔德隆和路易斯的强攻连续顶住八个赛点。最后，路易斯的重扣让古巴队反超，桑托斯的大力跳发球为古巴队赢得反击机会，桑切斯一击中的，将比赛带入决胜局。巧合的是，在决胜局当中，又是桑切斯给了中国队致命一击。

全场比赛，卡尔德隆和路易斯分别为古巴队贡献２６分和２２分，桑托斯有７次发球直接得分。中国队方面，全场表现稳定的王一梅也有２６分进账，马蕴雯、周苏红和赵蕊蕊分别拿下１５分、１４分和１２分。

这场焦点大战同时也是一场发球大战，双方各有９次发球直接得分。