BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- China beat Japan within one hour to win the women's volleyball World Cup, but the road to the crown took the nation 17 years.

    The Chinese women breezed past Japan in Osaka before a boisterous home crowd of 10,000 to clinch the title of the quadrennial tournament with a perfect record Saturday afternoon, winning all the 11 matches and conceding only four sets.

    Chen Zhonghe, who took over as the national coach in 2001, saidthat "we are so excited. We know the win means very much for the country. Every player has a burning desire to win the title. They have been working hard for so many years."

    Zhao Ruirui, who stands 1.97 meters and is believed the world'sbest player, said the win is also for the Chinese fans.

    "We should give credit to the Chinese fans, they are always behind us in the years," Zhao told the Chinese national CCTV.

    Gao Shenyang, vice president of the Chinese Volleyball Association (CVA), was jubilant with the victory, saying that "we have been waiting for the title for 17 years."

    The wait is so hard for Gao, who worked in CVA since early 1990s.

    "Every morning during these years, the first thing before opening my eyes, I always told myself: we can win back the world champion. And the dream finally comes true."

    The wait is also agonizing to the nation and to win the title back in Japan is so special.

    In 1981, the Chinese women spikers lifted the World Cup in Japan after beating the hosts in the final match, the first world title China had won in a team sport.

    The women became household names and national heroines overnight and volleyball the national sport.

    They swept the world volleyball in the next five years, winningfive consecutive world champions in the World Championships (1982,1986), the Los Angeles Olympic Games (1984) and the World Cup (1985).

    "It was a miracle and the wins were so important to China, which just opened its doors to the outside world," said Gao. "It'slike rains in a desert. Everybody felt encouraged by the victoriesto work harder to build a prosperous country."

    "The win reminds me of the first world title we won in 1981," said Zhang Rongfang, the only Chinese who won the world titles both as player and head coach.

    Zhang is confident that the team has the potential to win the Athens Olympic Games and can even repeat the glorious days in early 1980s.

    "Chen is a fabulous coach, the team is so young, and most importantly, 1.97-meter tall Zhao Ruirui is a special weapon, theycan dominate the women's volleyball in the next decade."

    "It's just amazing," said 36-year-old Beijing fan Wang Xuelin. "Volleyball used to be so important to everyone of us. The champion brought us back so many beautiful memories."

    The Chinese team slumped to a 17-year title drought after its 1986 world championships, finishing disappointing 7th and 8th places respectively in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1994 world championships, which was regarded as "national disasters".

    Now 17 years later, Wang said the team is different and so is the country.

    "All the girls are smiling and confident, which tells the worldthat the country is also confident. Anyhow, China has become the world's number five biggest economy and much stronger than 17 years ago," Wang said. (Wang Zijiang and Zhou Jie) Enditem