DOHA, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Taipei stormed to a
straight-set win over China's Hong Kong at the men's volleyball event on
Tuesday, leading Pool B with Bahrain undefeated.
Macao, however, suffered a third consecutive loss in
men's volleyball preliminary round 2 after a defeat by in-form Thailand 0-3,
staying at the bottom of Pool B and losing the final chance to qualify for the
quarterfinals.
"We will not give up in the last match against
Bahrain on Thursday. We are not a professional team and we come here to learn
from others and we did," said Leong Veng Tong, head coach of Macao.
Early in the day, Kuwait sealed a 3-0 win over a
stubborn United Arab Emirates. Kuwait's Abdullah Mansour and Mubarak Juma
Mubarak were both taken off court because of ankle and back injuries
respectively.
Ten men's teams are competing for another two seats of
the quarterfinals with Chinese Taipei, China's Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand and Bahrain
in Pool B, and India, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates in
Pool A. Only the top finisher of two groups qualified for the quarterfinals.
Host Qatar has directly entered the last eight with
five world championship participants, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Iran and
Kazakhstan.
For the women's competition, Kazakhstan smashed
Tajikistan 3-0 and Japan recorded a 25-22, 25-20, 25-23 straight-set win over
enduring Thailand to remain unbeatable at the top of Pool B.
Japan is quite likely to finish the preliminary phase
of the women's competition undefeated as they will play winless Tajikistan on
Wednesday in their final pool match.
Defending champion China, who leads Pool A, will face
Chinese Taipei on Wednesday, which has been regarded as a strong medal
competitor following their stunning performance at the 2006 World Championship
in Japan.
Nine teams are split into two groups to battle for
the women's volleyball championship, with China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei and
Vietnam playing in Group A and Kazakhstan, Japan, Thailand, Tajikistan and
Mongolia in Group B.
