China race up rankings to medal place

By Jane Barrett

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese beach volleyball has shot from nowhere to powerhouse in four short years, proving that when China's sports tsars put their mind to something, they normally find a way to achieve it.

China came ninth in the women's event in Athens while the men did not even qualify, so they decided they would do everything they could to put on a better show in Beijing.

On Tuesday, two women's teams with only one former Olympian between them will face off in the semi-finals, assuring the host nation of at least a silver medal.

"It's amazing. The Chinese program has gone from nothing to gold medal standard in four years," said U.S. player Elaine Young after being knocked out by Zhang Xi and Xue Chen.

While China has long had a strong volleyball team, the beach version of the sport is relatively new in a country where bikinis were denounced as pornographic as recently as the 1980s.

Tian Jia, 27, played in Sydney and Greece but not to any level high enough to scare the two powerhouses Brazil and the United States.

Four years on and China has two women's teams in the top four and a men's team ranked five, inspiring people to talk of the ABC of beach volleyball: America, Brazil and China.

"Chinese people are more and more interested and in love with beach volleyball," said Zhang, 23. "Even my grandmother likes it."

Certainly the crowds in the Chaoyang Park stadium have warmed to it, packing in for the Chinese matches and clearly understanding the rules better as the Games go on.

"I think there will now be an unprecedented, historical breakthrough in the sport of beach volleyball," said Xue, the youngest player in the tournament at 19.

"The fact so many spectators have come will help develop the sport," she added.

Most volleyball experts see the smiley Xue and Zhang, who clearly get along well on and off court, as China's best hope for a gold medal if they can beat the older, higher-ranked team of Tian and Wang Jie again.

Even though the men's team of Wu Penggen and Xu "Tiny" Linyin were knocked out in the last 16, many rivals reckon China could also make a men's medal in London.

"There is a new generation growing now like Tiny, skinny and tall who jump really high," said U.S. world champion Todd Rogers. "Compared to four or six years ago, they almost didn't have any players like this, so who knows what lies ahead?"

(Editing by Nick Macfie)