Chinese women team reach last 16 at beach volleyball game

Chinese pair Xue Chen and Zhang Xi beat Maria Antonelli and Agatha Bednarczuk of Brazil 23-21, 21-15 to advance to the last 16 in the women's competition of the beach volleyball world championships on Thursday.

The Chinese pair, tipped to be title contenders, struggled at the beginning and faced four set points as they were falling behind 20-16 in the first set.

But they miraculously staved off all these set points before finishing off the set with two unreturned serves from Xue.

"I had always served heavily to pin them close to the baseline until the final moment of the first set," said Xue. "Then I delivered two light serves which obviously caught them unprepared."

The Brazilain team raced to a 9-6 lead in the second set, but the Chinese fought back with a 9-1 run, then they never looked back.

The Chinese pair will play against Miller Elwin and Henriette Iatika of Vanuatu in the final 16 on Wednesday.