China celebrates ‘endless good news’ as women’s volleyball team beat USA after Asia Cup basketball triumph

Fans in awe as China’s women come from behind to stun the United States 3-2 at the South Korea leg of Volleyball Nations League
‘This was a great win and it gives us great confidence ahead of the finals,’ Li Yingying says after scoring match-high 28 points

Volleyball

Nicolas Atkin

Published: 12:59pm, 3 Jul 2023

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Chinese state media celebrated the “endless good news” as the women’s volleyball team gave fans even more to cheer about on Sunday following the country’s basketball Asia Cup triumph.

China’s women came from behind to stun the United States 3-2 at the South Korea leg of the FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League in Suwon.

“Different arenas, same struggle. Praise the girls who fought more and more bravely,” CCTV wrote in a post on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo.

The 18-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-20, 15-8 Nations League win over the Americans wrapped up the preliminary round for China, who on Saturday sealed their spot in this months play-offs in Arlington, Texas, with a 3-1 win over the hosts.

Wang Yunlu of China spikes the ball during the 2023 Volleyball Nations League match against the United States. Photo: Xinhua

China moved into fourth place in the overall standings on 24 points with an 8-4 record, ending on a high note with back-to-back victories having snapped a four-game losing streak.

They eventually had to settle for fifth place, with Brazil thrashing hosts Thailand in the Bangkok pool – played simultaneously with last week’s event in Suwon – to leapfrog them in the table.

Finals hosts the US were denied top spot by China’s win, and had to settle for second place behind Poland with a 10-2 record.

“Good news,” one user wrote on Weibo. “The women’s basketball team just beat the Japanese team and won the championship, and now the women’s volleyball team got another victory over the US team. More joy! The Chinese girls are amazing!”

China’s players celebrate a point during the match. Photo: Xinhua

“The women’s teams are awesome! China’s female treasures are the best,” another user commented.

Against the US, Li Yingying scored a match-high 28 points, while her teammates Yuan Xinyue, Gong Xiangyu and Wang Yunlu each added double-digit scores.

“I feel very happy today, because the US team are very strong and there were difficult moments. But I just played relaxed and I hope to keep improving with every match,” Li said after the game.

“This was a great win for our team. It gives us great confidence ahead of the finals. We will work on our problems and keep improving.”

Li Yingying gives an interview after the match. Photo: Xinhua

The weekend’s victories were the perfect response, after Chinese fans had questioned coach Cai Bin following back-to-back losses to Poland and Italy in last month’s Hong Kong leg.

Cai had urged his team to “fix the problems”, insisting they had “a lot of room for improvement” and questioning their ability to “kill the game” after losing a five-set thriller to defending champions Italy at Hong Kong Coliseum.

But those defeats were followed up by two more in Suwon last week.

First, China fell to the reigning world champions Serbia 13-25, 25-17, 23-25, 20-25 on Wednesday.

Cai Bin (centre), head coach of China, instructs his players during the 2023 Volleyball Nations League match against the United States in Suwon, South Korea. Photo: Xinhua

They then suffered a fourth straight loss in the tournament, going down 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 13-15) to the Dominican Republic in another epic battle.

The FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals will be played from July 12-16.

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