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China secured a come-from-behind victory against Turkey in the final of FIVB Grand Prix in Hong Kong. Head coach Lang Ping's undefeated record accumulated to 12 matches on Sunday.
China had a good start in set one, but soon lost it when Turkey retook the lead at 7-8. Point difference once widened to 21-13 to Turkey, and the World number seven won the first round at 25-19.
China saw considerable improvement in blocking and attacking in the next set, whilst the Turks made quite some mistakes. Taking the lead from the beginning, China equalized at 25-17.
China fell sick with its long term proeblem in game three, as skipper Hui Ruoqi and a few others conceded over four points on reception defence. Nonetheless the " Moving Great Wall" still managed to come from behind and ended the game at 25-20.
But Turkish's fight back brought China huge trouble again. Differences of scores were limited to two points at the very beginning, but Turkey broke the deadlock at 15-14 to them. The final scores of set four was 25-15 to Turkey, which means that China got only one point after the 14-14 drew. Acting captain Zhang Lei, who had been absent on the court all along in Hong Kong, showed up when the set was about to end, but her effort was in vain.
As the game entered tie break, China managed to grab hold of the pace of the game. Although players still underperform in reception defence, China excelled in both spiking and blocking,thanks to second spiker Yang Junjing and starlet Zhu Ting. Eventually China sealed the victory at 15-7, and 3-2 in total. This is also the 12th triumph in a row of China's coach Lang Ping, who is still undefeated after her return to Chinese national team in April this year.
Alongside the championship, the Chinese players also received personal awards. Senior spiker Xu Yunli was awarded the MVP, while Yang Junjing and spiker Zeng Chunlei got the best blocker and best server titles respectively. Hui Ruoqi unsurprisingly received the most popular player award in the midst of thundering applauds of Hong Kong audiences.
In the previous match on the same day Czech Republic humbled Argentine, gaining itself a third place.
Lang delivered compliments to Turkey at the post-match press conference, for effectively pressurizing her side, especially in serving and attacking.
But looking unhappy with the pity win, she said her team lost 10 points under no pressure, which was unacceptable as a strong team. They must overcome the archilles heels, including defence, slow pace in first pass and second pass.
Taling about the rising star Zhu Ting, Lang said she played Zhu on the day before to let her have experience the atmosphere of the avenue herself. Unsatisfactory might she be before, she made a few impressive finishing at critical moments with her powerful smashes.
But Lang urged the media not to boast her too much.
"She can't make it without her teammates getting her back. The success is a result of team spirit," Lang said. "After all she's just a kid. I don't want her to bear too much pressure."
Massimo Barbolini said his team did well in defence and serving, but the players made too many mistakes. More importantly China was abviously the better team, so it deserves to win.
Czech's captain Neslihan Darnel said Zhu Ting has the potential to the best in the world, "I'm lucky that we are not of the same generation," she added, cracking everyone up.
China will continue its 2013 Grand Prix tour in Wuhan on Aug. 16, before attending the final in Sapporo of Japan on Aug. 28.
