30-Nov, start time: 14:35, end time: 16:17 - Attendance: 1,540

TUN	1	17	26	25	29	-	97
CHN	3	25	24	27	31	-	107

Match Description:

Hard-fought Win for China
China moved above Tunisia on the World Cup rankings when they defeated their North African opponents 3-1 at Site B in Tokyo. The 25-17, 24-26, 27-25, 31-29 victory gave China only their second win of the campaign but moved them about Tunisia courtesy of a superior sets ratio.

China were the first into their rhythm, although the scores remained close until midway through the opening set. From a 12-11 lead China opened a 21-13 advantage thanks to powerful spiking from Tang Miao and unforced errors from Tunisia. The Asian side had few difficulties taking a one-set lead.
They carried this momentum into the second and were soon 10-6 ahead. But setter Ghazi Guidara began to find his attackers Noureddine Hfaiedh and Khaled Belaid as they leveled at 15-15. China matched them with Hu Song gaining impressive height as he fired down his bombs from the sides. With the scores locked at 24-24, Hfaiedh followed a block with another of his trademark spikes to level the match.

A series of spikes from Tang and some fighting defense gave China an early 7-3 advantage in the third, which they built into a 16-10 lead with the help of some effective blocking from Cui Xiaodong. Tunisia were putting up a strong defense and brought the scores back to 19-18, only for China to up the pace again and lead 24-20. Tunisia, however, refused to concede the game and bravely saved five set points before going a set behind.

The fourth was also extremely close and the lead exchanged hands regularly. Tunisia fought back bravely to save one match point, but China refused to lie down and saved five set points of their own before securing the win with two spikes from Hu and a block from Li Hang.

Comments:

DI, Anhe (CHN Head Coach)
" It was a good opportunity to participate in this World Cup 2003. As China is a very young team, it was a very good opportunity for the players to gain experiences in their techniques and their mentality as well. I am quite satisfied with the good result of today's match."

LI, Hang (CHN Player)
" Today I think we had guts to fight against Tunisia. We could play at our best. We have shown 100 percent level of our performance in this match. The major reason for our victory today is that we combined well as a team."

GIACCOBE, Antonio (TUN Head Coach)
" It was a hard match. Although we lost, it was a very close match. I am satisfied with our performance."

GUIDARA, Ghazi (TUN Captain)
" We could play well only in the second set. Though the match was close, China's performance was better, especially in reception and blocking. They took control of the game."

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF