China secures two victories in Asiad volleyball

China team got off to a good start in the Asian Games volleyball tournament on Sunday, defeating Kazakhstan and Myanmar 3-0 in the women's and men's preliminaries respectively.

"We did our best today. I think our mentality is stronger than that of other teams, which gives us an edge," head coach of the Chinese women's team Xu Jiande said after the match.

Thailand defeated powerhouse Japan 3-1 in the women's match.

"We trained for a long time for a match against Japan because we know they are really fast in defense and they are really tall. It was not easy to defeat Japan, but we did it," Thailand's captain Apinyapong said.

The defeat resulted from a lack of toss during the match, according to Japanese player Nozomi Itoh.

"We are going to keep our strength, and prepare to toss and block capably in future matches," she said.

In the men's action, China, Qatar and Japan beat Myanmar, Chinese Taipei and Saudi Arabia, all by 3-0.

"All the players did a good job. I'm very happy to win," China's head coach Xie Guochen said.

Chinese players will do their best to win the coming match against Turkmenistan, he added.

In retrospect, Japan's head coach Nambu Masashi commented that his team "started the game nervously, but got relaxed as the game went on."

"We are good at receiving," he said, adding the team will practice based on this strong point while preparing for its upcoming clash with Pakistan.