JAKARTA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- China edged Thailand 3-2 at the Asiad men's volleyball match here on Wednesday.
Thailand got off to a flying start, leading China 25-12 in the first set, and carried the momentum to the second set with 25-17.
But from the third set on, China managed to put their acts together and fought back hard to win 31-29.
In the fourth set, China again lagged behind in the beginning, but fought back resiliently and overtook Thailand to win 25-23, bringing the game to a tie-breaker.
In the final set, both sides took turns to take lead, and thanks to some experienced players, China won 17-15.
"I was so happy for the win. At that very moment, it gave me more joy than qualifying for the Olympics," said veteran Chinese player Ren Qi after the match.
"We lost the first two sets, because we were so nervous and afraid of losing. But after those two sets, as we felt we had little hope to win, we were less nervous and played better," he said.
"If we lost this game, we will probably go home early. All of our players knew that, and felt a little burdened," said China coach Shen Qiong after the match.
He explained that this was why he used some experienced players instead of younger players to start the match, and although this strategy didn't work in the first two sets, his later adjustment of the lineup turned out effective.
In the final set, although Thailand got the match point first, it was China that achieved that final victory, and Shen said that he was happy that his team didn't give up early.
"At that time, I was also nervous, just like the players. But the match was not over yet, and we would never give up. That's what the Chinese men's volleyball needs," he said.
China will play Sri Lanka in their last group match on Saturday. Shen said that he hopes his players will give their best performance.
"I hope our players could lose the psychological burden and bring out their best play. After all, it's not important how the opponents are, but how we perform ourselves," he said. Enditem
