Sapporo (Japan), Sep 1 (IANS) The Brazilian women’s volleyball team won the World Grand Prix Finals here Sunday with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-10) victory over China, which finished second.
Brazil, with a perfect 5-0, garnered 15 points in the tournament and China (4-1) got 10 points. Serbia claimed the bronze by defeating Italy 3-2, reports Xinhua.
The Brazilians were led by Sheilla Castro with 18 points and China’s top scorer was Wang Yimei with 13 points. Brazil held an edge in blocks with 10 points to China’s eight and in serves it was 6-0.
The South Americans took a flying 8-2 lead at the beginning with nice blocks and spikes and held the margin to 16-8 at the second technical timeout. From 20-12 on, Gabriela Guimaraes and Fernanda Rodriguses landed their bombs on the Chinese to finish the set 25-15.
The two teams played tight in the second set with Brazil leading 8-6 at the first timeout. Fabiana Claudino’s block on Wang Yimei inspired the Brazilians to a 16-11 lead at the second timeout. Brazil left no chances to China and ended the set 25-14 with a spike by Thaisa Menezes.
China fought back to 5-2 in the third set with spikes from Wang and Yang Junjing as well as Wang’s block on Sheilla Castro. China extended their lead to 11-7 prompting a timeout from the Brazilians.
Brazil then took four straight points for 11-12 and turned the table for 16-13 at the second timeout.
Yin Na came up big with two spikes followed by a nice block by Liu Congcong as China narrowed the game to 19-20. But a block by Thaisa and an ace made it 22-19 in favour of Brazil. The Brazilians gave China no chance in the end as Thaisa’s smash secured the victory.
