TIANJIN, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Reigning Chinese Volleyball League champions Shanghai suffered a stunning defeat here on Saturday as they lost to Henan 3-0 in a preliminary Group A clash of the 13th Chinese National Games men's volleyball tournament.
Henan beat Shanghai, who have dominated the League titles in the last three seasons, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-15 to improve to an 1-1 win-loss record while Shanghai dropped to 1-1 following their 3-0 opening win over Tianjin on Friday.
"We are not in good shape," said Shanghai coach Shen Qiong. "Some of our players have just returned from the national team and our regular starting opposite player got some injury."
Also in Group A, Beijing swept Tianjin 3-0 for their second victory in two matches.
In Group B, Jiangsu beat Bayi 3-1 while Shandong overpowered winless Zhejiang 3-0. Shandong led Group B with two wins against no loss with Jiangsu and Bayi sharing an 1-1 record.
Eight teams are playing in two preliminary round robin groups at the men's volleyball tournament with the placings to decide the matchups of the teams in the knockout stage.