The Chinese women, who suffered a shock 2-3 defeat to South Korea on Thursday, needed just over an hour to score a 15-3, 15-8, 15-5 victory in the six-team Group F tournament in the Western Japanese city of Fukuoka.

China stood with two wins against one defeat in the group the same as South Korea, to trail all-conquering defending champions Cuba, who stood with three wins. China had a better set ratio of 8-5 than South Korea's 6-7.

Asian champions China haven't beaten Cuba in the past two years, but Chinese coach Lang Ping promised they would ``do our best'' tomorrow in a re-match of the Atlanta Olympic final against Cuba.

The top two teams of the group will advance to the knock-out semifinals to be held in Osaka. Italy had a 1-2 win-loss record and their chance for the medal round has already fizzled out.

The Cuban women,seeking their sixth straight big title, powered past Asian silver medallists South Korea 15-8, 15-2, 15-5 in the second match in Fukuoka. Croatia defeated Bulgaria 15-9, 16-14, 11-15, 17-15 for a 1-2 record with Italy, ahead of Bulgaria at bottom with 0-3.

In the Group E competition in Nagoya, Peru needed nearly two hours to beat the Dominican Republic 9-15, 15-12, 15-13, 8-15, 15-11, while Olympic bronze medallists Brazil downed the Netherlands 15-5, 15-7, 15-3.

Russia, fourth at the Atlanta Olympics, remained unbeaten as they shocked home fans by beating Japan 16-17, 15-7, 15-5, 15-8 to stand top in Group E with a 3-0 record, giving Japan the first defeat of the week.

Japan and Brazil trailed the Russians with 2-1 records, followed by the Netherlands and Peru (1-2) and the Dominican Republic (0-3).