BEIJING -- Preliminary phase of Good Luck Beijing 2008 Handball Tournament ended here on Tuesday with darkhorse Jiangsu women's team and national champion Beijing men's side topping the round-robin respectively.
Li Xue (C) of the Beijing team prepares to score a goal during the preliminary round match against the People's Liberation Army team at the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Handball tournament being held in the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Beijing January 8, 2008. The venue will hold the preliminary rounds of the Olympic Games' handball competition. [Agencies] |
The Jiangsu women's team, founded in 2002, is the youngest team but the most impressive dark horse among the four participants. With the best-ever national result being the fourth, the burgeoning side cruised into the semifinal with an unbeaten record after upsetting national champion bronze medalist Anhui 30-27 on Tuesday.
In the semifinal, Jiangsu will face Anhui again, who suffered three straight defeats to end up at the bottom.
Having winning six national women's handball titles in a row from 2002 to 2007, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) team was considered the top favorite in the Olympic test event. However, as some of their crucial players were sidelined due to injury, the PLA only finished third in the preliminary.
The injury-torn powerhouse will struggle to find their form in tomorrow's semifinal against Beijing.
The Beijing men's side, national champion of 2007, came back from a 13-14 deficit after the break, upsetting Jiangsu 30-24 in the final round of preliminary. Entering the semifinal without a single loss, Beijing will take on Guangdong tomorrow.
The PLA men's team beat Guangdong 25-21 to meet Jiangsu in the semifinals.
