TOKYO, 2 November 2003 — Phipps Prikeba overcame an eye injury to help world silver medalists the United States beat South Korea in five sets to kick off the World Cup women’s volleyball tournament today.
Prikeba, playing for the first time since injuring her left eye three weeks ago, came to the rescue of the US team in the final set as the American spikers squeezed through to a 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 15-13 victory. Yoshida said Prikeba suffered a hemorrhage in her left eye when she was hit by a ball during practice at the North American championships last month and had not played or practiced since.
She returned as a substitute in the third and fourth sets against South Korea, protecting her eye with glasses and played right through the decider to help the US team to a narrow victory.
Korean coach Kim Cheol-Yong said: “I called up five experienced players after the Asian championships, because we are fighting to win a place in the Athens Olympics.”
“I sent Park Mee-Kyung on to the court from the third set and it seemed we got the momentum afterward. But we made errors in the final set, which cost us the match. I was very disappointed.”
Italy cruised to a 25-13, 25-11, 25-13 win over Egypt, playing without their top four players who captured their first world title in September last year. “It was an easy match, but it is important to keep our concentration. We still need to play some more matches to find out our best starting line up,” said Italian coach Marco Bonitta.
In Kagoshima, western Japan, Sydney Olympic champions Cuba opened their campaign for a fifth straight World Cup by beating the Dominican Republic 25-15, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, while Asian champions China outgunned South American champions Brazil 14-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16.
