PARIS: Turkey beat China in a five-set thriller here on Tuesday to reach the women’s volleyball semi-finals of the Paris Games. Melissa Teresa Vargas scored 42 points to lead the Turkish women to the victory (23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12) in the first quarter-final match Tuesday morning.
It was tied 11-all in the fifth set before a smash of Vargas and a spiking error from Wu Mengjie of China pushed Türkiye up at 13-11. Gong Xiangyu had a smash to pull China within 13-12, but another kill of Vargas and a smart play of Elif Sahin, who replaced injured starting setter Cansu Ozbay in the last three sets, sealed the victory for Turkey. “Vargas played a great game. We tried our best to stop her, but could not do that well enough,” said China head coach Cai Bin.
The Chinese women had a 5-1 surge to take a 22-18 lead late in the first set and held it to 24-20. Turkey ran off with three points in a row to make it 24-23, but Ilkin Aydin awarded the first set to China with a serving error.
GIRONA: Teenage star Lamine Yamal struck twice as La Liga leaders Barcelona thrashed Girona 4-1 on Sunday.Elsewhere...
GAINESVILLE: US captain Stacy Lewis could feel the tension rise as match after match the Americans struggled late on...
MILAN: Napoli are top of Serie A after thrashing Cagliari 4-0 on Sunday in a match which was stopped in the first half...
ROME: Jannik Sinner has hired Novak Djokovic’s former fitness coach Marco Panichi in the wake of the world number...
FAISALABAD: Pakistani squash player Ahsan Ayaz narrowly missed out on the title at the 247 International Squash...
LONDON: Forty-two years after being crowned shock European champions, Aston Villa return to the Champions League ready...
GUADALAJARA: Magdalena Frech captured her first WTA tour title on Sunday, beating Australian qualifier Olivia Gadecki...
LAHORE: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has unveiled its new Football Central Studio, a cutting-edge facility...