Turkey suffers 2nd defeat in volleyball
LONDON
Turkey’s Gözde Sonsırma, Bahar Toksoy and Naz Aydemir try to block as China’s Hui Ruoqi spikes the ball during the two teams’ volleyball match in London. Reuters Photo
The Turkish national women’s volleyball team yesterday suffered its second defeat in the competition, losing to China in four sets.China won the first two sets 25-20, but Turkey fought hard to avoid going down without getting a set. A long battle saw the third set go to the line, and Turkey claimed the epic set 31-29. However, China controlled the game in the last set to win the fourth set 25-22.
That was Turkey’s second defeat after suffering a dramatic five-set defeat to Brazil on July 28.
‘China the better side,’ Erdem admits
“China was really good today, and we could not start the game the way we were supposed to,” Eda Erdem told Anatolia news agency after the game. “We had some chokes in some periods of the game. It could have been different if we had avoided them.”
Turkey will meet European champion Serbia tomorrow.
“That will be a crucial game,” Erdem said. “If we play that game at our usual level, we can win on Wednesday.”
South Korea beat Serbia 3-1 in another game played in the group yesterday. Group favorites the United States and Brazil met in a game that was still in progress as the Hürriyet Daily News went to press yesterday.
China is leading the group with six points from two wins.
Turkey has one point in the group, thanks to the 3-2 defeat.
