Italy upset China in WGP volleyball women's finals
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-11 06:26

"We only had two to three experienced players while the rest of the teal is still young and inexperienced, but today, they all played at the same level."

The United States, under new coach Jenny Lang Ping, finished a disappointing campaign in eighth position just as they looked to be possibly sneaking into the finals through the back door.

In the other match here, the Dominican Republic finally broke their duck after nine matches of the Preliminary Round by beating Germany 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 15-7) in the opening match in Hong Kong.

"I must say I am the happiest man today, not for myself but for my players," Dominican Republic coach Francisco Cruz said.

"They worked very hard for this. We are the youngest team in the World Grand Prix and it is only our second appearance in the competition, which has the strongest teams in the world, " added Cruz.

In Taipei, China, Cuba lost their unbeaten record after going down to defending champions Brazil 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-23) and in Bangkok, fist-pumping Japan pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind 3-1 (23-25 25-22 25-17 25-22) victory over hosts Thailand, who were the only side in the competition not to win a match.

The final round in Sendai will see the six teams play 15 matches over five days in a round-robin format with the team with the most victories walking away as 2005 World Grand Prix champions.