Brazil and Germany impress in the men’s sitting volleyball

“We can play much, much better. Better is coming.”

The Chinese women’s team produced the headline grabbing performance on day two of the sitting volleyball, recovering from a sluggish start to beat nearest rivals USA 3-1.

The Americans had looked to be heading for a shock victory against the team that beat them in the 2008 Beijing Games final when they took the first set and led 8-2 in the second.

But China gradually fought their way back into contest, and after winning gripping second and third sets 32-30 and 25-23, they then pulled away in the final set to win 25-17 and complete an impressive victory.

The teams are tipped to meet again in the gold medal match, and American Heather Erickson insisted that her side can improve.

“We need to work on our serving and work some kinks out of our game,” Erikson said.

“We can play much, much better. Better is coming.”

Earlier in the day, Ukraine proved too strong for debutants Great Britain, winning 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-14) in their first pool A match.

In the men’s event, world number five Brazil brushed aside an inexperienced Rwandan team 3-0 (25-5, 25-4, 25-12).

Wellington Platini was the star man in an outstanding performance from the Brazilians.

They still have to face strong favourites Ian and Bosnia-Herzegovina in their pool, but coach Fernando Lages Guimaraes says that his side is progressing.

“We are here to play better and better, to improve,” he said. “It is not hard for them to win against us, but we are much better than a year ago, so we might surprise them.”

Morocco fell to their second consecutive 3-0 defeat (25-11, 25-10, 25-9) when Germany proved too strong for them.

The Morrocans had already lost by the same scoreline to Egypt in their opening match, and struggled to cope with Germany’s impressive Heiko Wiesenthal.