World Grand Prix champions China rallied past the United States in a five-set thriller in Osaka, Japan Thursday for their ninth straight win at the 2003 women's volleyball World Cup.

The Chinese women moved closer to their first World Cup title in 18 years with the 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 25-20 and 15-11 victory in one hour and 51 minutes. With only two matches remaining in the round-robin tournament, China has virtually secured a top three finish and a spot in the Athens Olympics in 2004 due to their superior set ratio.

"It was a really tough match, fortunately we had made good preparation before it," said Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe.

"Confidence helped us win through. Our players did not panic when we were 2-1 down and we fought back together to clinch the victory," Chen added.

The United States' Japanese head coach Toshiaki Yoshida was obviously disappointed after his side' second loss at the tournament.

"Both teams played very well today, the Chinese team performed good offensive plays in the fifth set," Yoshida said. "We did not prepare well in crucial times by making several unforced errors."

The Americans were once 6-4 up in the tiebreaker, but China staged a 5-0 run from then on to grab the lead and never looked back.

"Generally speaking, our team is inferior to the Chinese team and we have to improve in every aspect to catch up with them," Yoshida added.

China started strongly. They established a comfortable 19-12 lead in the first set on back of their famed blitz attack and went on to take the opener.

The Americans, who lost all three encounters with China earlier this year, fought back in the second set. They successfully destroyed China's receiving with high quality services, which greatly affected the speed of Chinese attack, and pulled one set back at 25-20.

The third set was even more hotly contested while China squandered a 19-17 lead before drawing with the Americans at 24-24. After Logan Tom gave the United States a 25-24 advantage with a smash, Chinese Yang Hao drove a ball long to concede the set.

"The United States played very well today, especially in defense and counter-attack," Chen said. "Our players were kind of impatient in the second and third sets when they (the United States) destroyed our receiving."

China improved their receiving and defense in the fourth set. They raced to a 7-1 lead and coasted to the victory in the set, forcing the tiebreaker.

Zhou Suhong led four Chinese in double digits with 20 points. Zhao Ruirui, Yang Hao and Liu Ya'nan added 19, 16 and 13 points respectively.

Twelve teams are competing at the tournament with top three finishers to qualify for the Athens Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2003)