China dig deep to overcome Thailand in FIVB World Grand Prix
Mainland outfit struggled but conquered rivals in opener, while Italy endured two-hour match
China and Italy launched the Hong Kong leg of the volleyball World Grand Prix with a positive, but sweaty result at the Coliseum last night.
While the mainlanders had to dig deep for a 3-1 victory - including a hard fought 29-27 first set win after overcoming deuce - over their Asian counterparts Thailand, the Europeans needed five sets to hold off a late challenge from Japan to win their opening match 3-2.
Teams were greeted with plenty of cheering from 8,000 fans at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom.
Our serves were a bit conservative in the third set and we failed to challenge our opponents
Italy, however, only had themselves to blame for enduring a two-hour match.
After taking a two-set lead 25-20, 25-17 through some powerful spikes with the dominant height of their players, they lacked the momentum to seal the match.
Japan, who sent out some of their new youngsters, slowly clawed back into the match with tight defence.
They took the next two sets - 25-21 and 25-20 - to level with the Italians, who prevailed 15-11 to win their fifth set.
Italy coach Marco Bonitta paid tribute to the hard work of his charges as they maintained their mental strength to win the tiebreaker.