Undefeated with eight points, the Asians got their third victory in Paris despite 39 points from Tijana Bošković, the second-best mark in the Olympics
Chinese players celebrate after their third victory in Paris
China came out on top of the extremely competitive Pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics, overcoming the defending champions and the reigning world champions to enter the quarterfinals as one of the three top-ranked national teams in the event.
After defeating Olympic champions the United States in their debut and hosts France in the second match, the Chinese were faced with world champions Serbia on Sunday at the South Paris Arena 1 and recovered from a first-set loss to secure an important 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 29-27) victory.
With the result, the Asians ended pool play with eight points and three wins, rising above second-placed the United States, who had six, and third-placed Serbia, who secured four. All three teams will appear in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament, unlike hosts France, who played their last match on Sunday and left the event with no points earned.
With Olympic champion Zhu Ting limited to seven points, star outside hitter Li Yingying carried the Chinese offense with a team-high 28 (25 kills, two blocks, one ace). Opposite Gong Xiangyu, with 17 (15 kills, one block, one ace), and middle blocker Wang Yuanyuan, with 11 (eight kills, three blocks), also got to double digits in scoring.
“We were in a very difficult pool, as Serbia and USA are great teams and France are very strong offensively,” Wang commented. “We respected each of them and just tried to do our best in each match. We’re happy that we managed to win all three of them and advance. This match gave us a big boost ahead of the quarterfinals, but we know that we’ll need to keep bringing our best in every match in the elimination rounds.”
China’s Li Yingying faces two Serbian blockers
Serbian star opposite Tijana Bošković had her second display with 30 or more points in Paris, registering a match-high 39 (36 kills, two aces, one block), but couldn’t give her team its second victory in the event. This was the second-best scoring performance from a female player at the Games, just behind the 44 points registered by Croatian Barbara Jelić in Sydney 2000.
No other Serbian player got to double digits in scoring – middle blocker Maja Aleksić tallied nine, with four kills, four blocks and one ace.
“We were really confident we could take the match to the fifth set, but unfortunately things didn’t go our way in the end,” outside hitter Katarina Lazović reflected. “But I’m happy that we fought until the end. Our first set was really good and we now need to understand what happened after it and work on it for the next matches. We had some tough matches in our pool and I’m confident that will helps us get ready for the quarterfinals. We believe in ourselves.”
China got the most kills (64 to 61), blocks (12 to nine) and aces (six to four), but the Asians also gave up more points in errors (20 to 18).
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