South Koreans find Cuba still too tough to beat

JAKARTA (JP): For Cuba, it took two to have South Korea foraging for just two points in the fourth and deciding set at this year's Women's World Volleyball Grand Prix's second leg at Istora Senayan yesterday.

The two are the team's captain Mireya Luis and Regla Torres. Their presence quashed South Korea's hopes which sparked for a while when it edged the world's number one 16-14 in the third set after losing 9-15 and 10-15 in the previous sets.

Cuba's head coach, Eugenio George, injected Torres and Luis to administer fresh blood to the Cuba team as it trailed 8-11 behind the Koreans in the third set. The effect was instant. Cuba made it 14-14 although Torres was withdrawn a few minutes later. Yet the odds were against them. The Koreans ended the game with a 16- 14 victory.

"I put Torres and Luis in to just liven up our team," George said. The two were needed to offset South Korea which played at a high pace, he said. He added that the 1.91m Torres, Cuba's tallest player, was put on court but was withdrawn a few minutes later in the third set because the team just needed her to remind it to play fast and powerful.

"Torres is a center. But I put her in the front for blocking purposes," George said.

Torres was put on court again, together with Luis, in the fourth set. And this time South Korea could almost do nothing. What a difference the two women made. Their presence enlivened the whole team and made them unbeatable.

Torres and Luis are Cuba's senior and most experienced players. They have played fifteen world championship matches and five Olympic Games matches, George said.

South Korean head coach, Kim Cheol-yong, said Cuba is the world's best. He implied that falling to the world number one was quite acceptable.

"I don't think we can win," Kim said. So he was surprised at his team's victory over Cuba in the third set. He believed that the victory happened incidentally.

"They play at a very high pace. They are so quick and powerful that our blocking did not work," Kim said. Kim also attributed his team's loss to the under-form performance of his spiker and captain, Chang Yoon-hee. "She was not fit enough for the game. She was not very well today," he said.

In the other match at Istora Senayan yesterday, China took a long road to beat Russia 3-2 (7-15, 15-5, 13-15, 15-8, 15-12).

In Taipei, where the other second leg is being held, last year's Grand Prix champion Brazil also was forced into marathon before defeating Japan 3-2 (3-15, 15-11, 12-15, 15-9, 18-16). (arf)