China got off to a convincing start in the FIVB World Grand Prix Hong Kong leg, coming from behind to defeat arch-rivals Cuba in a five-set thriller at the Hong Kong Coliseum last night.
Having won their three previous matches in the Ningbo leg last week, the mainlanders maintained their unbeaten record with a 21-18, 25-27, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13 victory over the Latin Americans in almost two hours.
In the early match, Italy scored a straight set 25-17, 25-20, 25-22 win over Asian champions Japan.
The result was sweet revenge for China, who lost 3-2 to Cuba at the Swiss Masters event early this month.
'Both teams had a good match and Cuba are always strong on attack,' said China coach Chen Zhonghe. 'We built up a good lead in the second set, but failed to take the chances and that's why we lost the set after deuce.
'The loss had some effect on the following set, but fortunately we were able to hang in there before coming from behind to take the last two sets and win the match.'
The coach singled out Zhao Ruirui, Zhou Suhong and Yang Hao as the best performers.