Volleyball Update: Xue/Zhang clipped gold-ware at the SWATCH FIVB Sanya Open Tournament
The second-last event on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Calendar 2010, the Sanya Open Tournament successfully completed its run and revealed the top duo out of 65 teams from 26 different nations. The tournament started off on October 26th and beach
volleyball fury continued up till Sunday, 31st October, 2010. The final showdown of the Sanya Open Tournament was played between top-seeded Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China and Germany’s Sara Gollar/Laura Ludwig. Chinese queens proved them too good for
triumph and thrashed 2-0 (22-20, 22-20) victory over German counterparts.
The 2010 season has been great for Xue and Zhang. This is their third gold medal on the SWATCH FIVB Chart, while quite recently Xue/Zhange clinched gold medal at the AVC Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship in Haikou, China. The duo enjoyed a great form
and finished on the podium in last four SWATCH FIVB events. They confirmed their supremacy in the game of beach volleyball by finishing Sanya Open Cup without losing a single set. Moreover, this is the first time that a Chinese pair has won the gold medal
in this tournament on home-soil. Xue and Zhang have re-written the history and dug up the top-honour for them.
First Set
Both finalist pairs took their positions in the court and looked pretty active on sand. The fire was ignited with a service from China. Xue delivered the ball over the net and quickly took a short run to reach the middle of the court. Gollar and Ludwig enjoyed
a great vibe in the tournament and they were ready for the big competition. Gollar received the ball with firm hands and re-bounded it in China’s court. Gradually, the game picked up more pace and Germans hit the first point of the game. China produced wonderful
shots but trailed behind in the scores’ run. Germany’s players traded their positions and showed good digging and diving. They took the score to 9-8 and struggled to further stretch the gap of points.
Xue and Zhang tried different strategies and paid more attention to their defence but it didn’t stop German score. They continued hitting spikes after spikes and found the rare gaps on China’s side. Germany extended the lead to 17-15 and added two more points
to make it 19-18. Germans were happy with their progress but home-team didn’t lose hope. They kept trying and waited for the perfect opportunity to push their opponents behind. In the meantime, Germany added one more point in their score but China started
the heavy strike and contributed 2 points to reach the set-point. Finally Xue came up with strong attack and finished the first set with 22-20 victory.
Second Set
The victory in first set provided China an edge over the opposite team. Xue and Zhang received huge applause from the spectators for an exhibition of wonderful game. They continued with success and built an early lead of 7-3 in the second set. Xue/Zhang
put more pressure on Gollar/Ludwig side by extending the lead to 19-16. Germany created a spark in the game by hitting an equalizer at 20-20 but Chinese killed their hope to raise heads by taking lead once again. The home-side quickly added two more points
and claimed second set at 22-20. China appeared as the new champion of the SWATCH FIVB Sanya Tournament.
Post-match
Zhang was more than happy about the big achievement. She expressed delight about the gold medal victory in front of local fans. Zhang said,
“I feel like I’m back in the Olympics in Beijing. It is such a great feeling to win a gold medal here in China.”
Ludwig, on the other hand, was down with the loss of important match but she credited the Chinese pair for their brilliant game. She said,
“It was a pity we lost the first set. Their block was good and it put us under pressure. They also defended really well. They had the crowd behind them – they were really loud. But they just simply played better than us. Next time we will win the gold!”
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