China loses women's beach volleyball in Singapore Open
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SINGAPORE - Second-seeded Tan Jia and Wang Jie of China failed to secure their second straight title of the FIVB World Tour 2007 after being defeated by Brazil's Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro in the women's beach volleyball Singapore Open on Sunday. The third-seeded Talita and Renata scored a 21-15 and 21-19 win in 43 minutes over the Chinese pairing to clinch the inaugural Singapore Open gold medal. This was the eighth meeting between the two teams since the start of the 2006 FIVB season as each side has won four matches till now. "I did not combine well with my teammate and we were controlled by the rivals on the court. That is the reason of failure," the 22-year-old Wang Jie said after the final. In the fight for the bronze medal, fourth-seeded Xue Chen and Zhang Xi of China performed well to defeat top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 21-18, 21-9. "We are very happy with the result," said the 18-year-old Xue Chen after the win, "they are much experienced but we took it set by set and we won." The four-day Singapore Open, which concluded on Sunday, is the second of four women's FIVB World Tour events in Asia this season. South Korea hosts next week's event in Seoul with the final women's international beach volleyball event of 2007 being play in Thailand for the second-straight year during the first week of November. |
