Playing more solid, US May-Treanor/Walsh awarded beach volleyball title again
21/8/2008 17:56
Defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States
won the title again in the beach volleyball tournament at the Beijing Olympics
today.
The American pair defeated China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie with a
perfect 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) in the final, which was held in downpour. The Chinese
duo got the silver medal.
The two sides traded points in the first set to
17-17 before the US duo reached the set point 20-17. The Chinese players managed
to score one more point as the Americans failed to block a spike by Tian. With a
dink spike to a gap in the hosts' defense, the US duo claimed the first set
21-18.
In the second set, the Americans led at the beginning while the
Chinese came from behind and traded points for a tit-for-tat battle. The
visitors reached the match point 20-18 and finished the gold medal match with a
dink spike.
"We've been training for so long. Gold was our goal and we did
it," said Walsh, who jumped into the air and squealed to celebrate their victory
before talking to the press in the mixed zone after the match.
"It was such a
tough match. I'm so proud we did a good job in Beijing in Beijing, and I'm so
glad it's over. We felt like warriors out there," she said.
May-Treanor said
the performance of the Chinese team was "amazing" and motivated them to play at
a higher level.
"The Chinese team is amazing. They are so young and they
pressed us so hard in the match. I feel proud to play with them in the final,"
she said.
The Chinese duo said they were happy with the silver medal, a
historic breakthrough for China, whose previous best Olympic finish was ninth
place, achieved by Tian and her then partner Wang Fei at the Athens
Games.
"I'm excited to win the silver medal. We did our best in the match.
I'm proud to present such a wonderful match in front of the large audience,"
said the 1.87-meter Wang, whose efficiency at the net made big contributions to
trade points with the defending champions before the visitors outscored them in
the last minutes.
"Before the match everybody wanted us to win the title but
our opponents are too strong, especially at crucial moments," said Tian, a
three-time Olympian.
"A good team is good because it can grasp the chances
after the two sides reach 15 points," she said.
"They've devoted a lot of
time to beach volleyball, and competing against them gave us a chance to
practice," the 27-year-old added.
Tian and Wang said before the match began
that their rivals were "very strong" both in experience and technique and they
just wanted to do their best in the final match.
Miao Zhihong, head coach of
the Chinese beach volleyball team, said he was satisfied with their performance.
"They played to their best standard basically and they played also very actively
in disadvantage."
"They are very young but they had quite a stable state of
mind in the match, which was very important to playing well," he said.
The US
duo, dubbed "queens of the beach," didn't lose a single set at the Beijing
Olympics. And they have not been defeated in a single match since August last
year.
Three-time Olympian May-Treanor said before the Olympics that
experience was their advantage and they would use it to gain the upper hand over
their rivals in Beijing. "Experience in beach volleyball comes into play in
those big matches where fatigue sets in."
The combination of the pair is
another factor which contributed to their outstanding results. Men's beach
volleyball legend and three-time Olympic champion of the United States Karch
Kiraly also prized the partnership of May-Treanor and Walsh "the best
ever".
Staunch willpower is another significant weapon for the US duo to
perform well. "I will pretend that the crowd was cheering for us," May-Treanor
said of the audience's support in the final for the Chinese team before the
match began.
The US duo, the first team to win to beach volleyball Gold
medals at the Olympics, said they would never stop making progress in playing
beach volleyball.
"We'll never be satisfied with our performance and our
achievements," Walsh said.
In an earlier match, China's Zhang Xi and Xue Chen
captured the bronze medal, defeating Brazilian pair Talita Antunes/Renata
Ribeiro in straight sets.
With two teams earning Olympic medals, China's
success in beach volleyball is expected to enhance the popularity of the sport
in the country, which began to develop the sport just some 20 years ago.
"I
hope beach volleyball will have a faster development in China through our
success at the Beijing Games," Wang added.
Xinhua
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