BEIJING -- Chinese spikers made history by making top eight at the men's volleyball tournament of the Beijing Games despite a 25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 20-25 and 14-16 loss to Italy here on Monday.
 

Jiao Shuai (L) of China hits the ball as Marco Meoni of Italy blocks during their men's preliminary pool A volleyball match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 18, 2008. [Agencies]

The host advanced into the quarter-finals of the 12-team tournament after finishing fourth in preliminary pool A with two wins against three losses.

Chinese captain Shen Qiong was eager to share the emotional moment with former teammate Tang Miao, who has been suffering from paralysis after seriously injured his neck in a training session in June 2007.

"Although he is not playing with us on the court, we can not make this achievement without his dedication to the national team in the past few years," Shen Qiong told Xinhua after the marathon match that lasted nearly two hours.

"I know he has been watching us play on TV and cheering for us, we would like to give our best wishes to him and hopefully he can recover soon."

The 26-year-old Tang, the husband of Chinese women's international Zhou Suhong, had been a key player since joining the national team in 2001.

"I will fight for Tang Miao," Shen Qiong told reporters before the Beijing Games where the Chinese are making their first Olympic appearance since 1984.

"It's a breakthrough for the Chinese men's volleyball, it really meant a lot for us," said Fang Yingchao, who scored 20 points to lead China, an eighth and bottom finisher at the Los Angles Games.

"This time is quite different because we fought through the preliminaries for the quarter-finals," Fang said. "It will be a great confidence boost to us and hopefully we can have even better performance in the future."

(L-R) Bian Hongmin, Shen Qiong, Yu Dawei and Jiao Shuai of China celebrate a point during their men's preliminary pool A volleyball match against Italy at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 18, 2008. [Agencies]

China head coach Zhou Jian'an attributed the improvement of his side to the participation in the World League in the last few years.

"We have gained experience and confidence from playing against top teams in the world," said Zhou Jian'an, who took the helm of the Chinese team in December 2005. "It really helped us."

The host will play defending champion and world No. 1 Brazil, top finisher from pool B, in Wednesday's quarter-finals.

"I think we will play with more confidence against Brazil after the battle with Italy," Zhou Jian'an said. "I am very happy because our players kept fighting throughout the match."

In the tiebreaker, the world 22nd ranked Chinese beat off two set points thanks to consecutive smashes of Fang to tie it at 14- all, but Luigi Mastrangelo made it 15-14 in favor of Italy with a kill before Fang drove a ball out to surrender the match.

Hristo Zlatanov scored 29 points to lead the Italians, who rested top scorer Alberto Cisolla in more than three sets but still snatched their fourth win in five matches.

Going down tamely in the first set, the Chinese fought bravely in the second, erasing an early 12-8 deficit to level it at 17-all.

After the Italians surged away again with a 5-1 run for a comfortable 22-18 cushion, China steadily pulled within 24-23, only to find Matteo Martino tear open the defense put up by Bian Hongmin and Shi Hairong to smash it home for the set winner.

The Chinese fell behind again in the third set, but rallied to run off four points in a row to overtake the lead at 19-17 and held it to 22-20.  After Italy cut it to 22-21 through a Emanuele Birarelli spike, Shi Hairong answered with a smash and Guo Peng came from the bench to score two consecutive points to clinch the set for China.

China continued its momentum in the fourth set, racing to a 17- 12 lead and never looked back.

Later on Monday, the unbeaten United States will play Japan in the last match of the preliminaries.