Chinese and Canadian women take good start in Rome – Volleyball news
China’s Chen Xue-Zhang Xi opened the 2012 SWATCH FIVB Rome Grand Slam women’s beach volleyball tournament on Wednesday, June 13 and pulled off success in their opening match.
Top-seeded duo of Xue-Zhang, which recently earned the gold medal in Moscow, embarked on the Italian sand and demonstrated a spectacular show of beach volleyball. The Chinese pair came into stride with Giombini-Orsi Toth from Italy in the first match.
Despite having the competitive edge of playing under familiar conditions and stupendous support of local fans, the Italian duo could not overcome the powerhouse Chinese team. Xue and Zhang totally dominated the scene and clinched success in only 28 minutes.
They secured the opening frame of the match with huge margin of 13 points at 21-8. Excellent attack strategy and flawless defence was the key to China’s success in first stanza of the match. The second set also came successful for Xue-Zhang as they posted
21-10 on board. Overall, it proved to be an easy game for top seeds of the world.
With one victory in hand, Xue-Zhang took on Brazil’s Vivian Cunha-Taiana Lima in the next fixture on Thursday. The Brazilian pair received the same treatment from No. 1 beach volleyball team of the world as the Italians did in the previous match. Chinese
top-guns finished the opening set against Brazilian team with eight points (21-13). Vivian and Lima totally collapsed in the second set and ended up after scoring only10 points, while Chinese duo achieved match points.
Xue and Zhang maintained their dominance in the game and grabbed absolute success in the first two matches of the tournament.
In the next run, they are scheduled to take on Canada 16th-seeded duo of Heather Bansley and Liz Maloney on Thursday. Xue and Zhang have already claimed two matches and now they are only one step away from the top-sixteen round of the tournament. They have
all necessary skills to sideline the Canadian counterparts. The third match of the Chinese pair is scheduled to start 1600 local time in Rome, Italy.
Xue and Zhang are currently staying on top of the game. They have already claimed three gold medals and a bronze in the running season. They aim to go for another gold medal before the start 2012 London Olympic Games.
Speaking of their next match against Canadian duo, it is more likely that they will easily edge out the opponents. Let’s wait for the real action to start, which will bring the better team in the limelight.
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