CHINA scored a comfortable win over South Korea in straight sets in the women’s Volleyball World Cup in Sapporo, Japan, on Sunday, Nov.13, before all the teams move to Tokyo for the final round of the tournament.

The scores were 25-12, 25-8, 25-16. The win will assure China of a top three position in the next round. The top three in the final round will qualify for the London Olympics.

“Today’s game was the last of the third round and so far we have had eight games so we’re mentally and physically tired, but we did well. This game was very important for us,” said Chinese coach Yu Juemin.

China jumped out to a fast start on Ma Yunwen’s heads-up tip and Zhang Lei’s impressive spikes. Hui Ruoqi finished the first set with some finesse at the net to close 25-12.

South Korean coach Kim Hyung-sil pulled his star Kim Yeon-koung due to fatigue after earlier matches. This allowed China to continue to steamroll with little resistance. They closed an easy set from there 25-8.

South Korea looked a little more competitive in the third set, leading at 5-2. But the Chinese players soon found their rhythm, with Fan Linlin coming off the bench with a pair of strikes to close 25-16.

China will face Germany and America in the final round. “It will be very difficult because America and Germany are very strong teams. I’m not sure whether we can make third but, if we lose, our ranking will drop, so we’ll be sure to do our best,” Yu said.

Korean coach Kim said his team had not played well enough. “China’s height and power were better than ours. It was the first time our players had played in such a big game.”

With only five points from eight games, South Korea is out of competition for a spot in the top three, but Kim said they would do their best to win in Tokyo.