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Beach volleyball: America vows to spoil China beach party

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-21 08:39

Misty May-Treanor of the US lunges for the ball in a beach volleyball match against Norway last week. US will meet China in the final today. AP

A Chinese pair qualified for the women's beach volleyball final yesterday for the first time but now faces formidable opponents in American defending champions Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor.

Wang Jie and Tian Jia overcame teammates Xue Chen and Zhang Xi in three sets but the task in front of them is huge, with the US spikers unbeaten in a year and yet to drop in Beijing.

Walsh and May-Treanor's 21-12 and 21-14 win over Brazil's Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro was their 107th consecutive victory, setting the scene for an enticing showdown in today's final.

In China's favor will be a capacity home crowd, but May-Treanor said they wouldn't allow the patriotic fans to disrupt their drive to the title.

"We'll just focus on the match, we will not be disturbed by the audience," she said. Another motivation for May-Treanor is to once again hear the Star Spangled Banner played in their honor.

"I always relive it (winning the Athens gold medal) over and over. Even though it was four years ago, it still feels like I'm there," she said.

Wang said just getting there was a major achievement. "No matter who wins the match today, it is a breakthrough for beach volleyball for China, and the honor always belongs to our country," she said.

She said, "We are not nervous. Our opponents are the strongest team, so they should feel more nervous than we do. We will start as the underdogs, but even if we lose we will give our best performance for the crowd."

Her partner Tian said they would be heavily relying on home support to help score a major upset.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/21/2008 page23)