25-Nov, start time: 18:05, end time: 19:09 - Attendance: 2,500

ITA	3	25	25	25	-	-	75
CHN	0	15	15	20	-	-	50

Match Description:

Italy coast to win number seven
Another stellar Italian performance helped the European champions register their seventh win out of eight games at the 2003 Men's World Cup in Okayama on Tuesday following a straight sets win over China.

Italy have been in sparkling form in this competition to date, only dropping one match to world champions Brazil and now with four matches remaining they are in strong contention for a top three spot and a ticket to the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Their final match in Okayama shaped as an awkward assignment against a promising Chinese side, who have scared a number of the big guns in this tournament so far. But unfortunately for the Asian vice-champions they were simply outclassed in another star Italian routine.

Left arm king pin Andrea Sartoretti was his lethal best at the beginning of the match, giving China plenty of grief with his whip-like serve and power spikes. Seven points in the first set was a suitable reward for a quality attacking player. Samuele Papi was there in great support from the service line and at the net while Marco Meoni was exceptional on the set. It only took Italy 19 minutes to wrap up the first set as Miao Tang and co struggled with Italy's tempo and ferocity.

Despite the limited influence of Sartoretti, the second set was a mirror image of the first with Italy proving to be too aggressive for China. Meoni this time had the likes of Paolo Cozzi and Matej Cernic as willing recipients of his work and they both cashed in scoring three and five points respectively in the set. China tried their best to hold on but Italy powered away to another quick set win and were looking superb.

China managed to find their combinations in the third set and stuck with Italy all the way until Italy kicked just once too often to open a lead at 19-18. It wasn't long after the Squadra Azzurri had wrapped up their seventh victory, setting them up for a great run home in Tokyo starting on Friday.

Comments:

MONTALI, Gianpaolo (ITA, Head Coach)
We performed very well in technique and tactics. I am happy to have finished this round successfully. What we need most is to keep this attitude in the final round.

SARTORETTI, Andrea (ITA, Player)
Although this match was difficult, we played very well, especially with a strong and successful service-game. Overall this match was good for us.

DI, Anhe (CHN, Head Coach)
ITA played very well. We would like to show our respect to their victory. We, however, exposed our weaknesses in this match. It was a negative game. We will try to check every point so that we can achieve a better result in the final round.

HU, Song (CHN, Player)
Today's match seemed almost the same as that of yesterday ( vs FRA). It took two sets for us to get used to the style of the opponents in the last two matches. In the third set we were getting better and staying in touch with ITA, but it was too late.

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF