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The younger Chinese team outplayed their more experienced
opponents 15-25 25-23 25-22 22-25 15-13 and went through to the
semi-finals where they will face the Netherlands.
Brazil, with eight players who competed in the 2012 London Games
and four of them veterans from Beijing in 2008, had not dropped
a single set until their quarter-final shocker against China.
China won their second gold medal in 2004 in Athens and are now
on a path to a third under head coach Jenny Lang Ping, a former
Chinese volleyball player who coached the United States to a
silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Unnerved by the loud cheering and booing of Brazilian supporters
in Rio's packed Maracanazinho stadium, China took the lead in
the third set with a succession of unstoppable spikes by its top
scorer Zhu Ting.
Brazil fought back in the fourth but China prevailed in the
fifth.
The United States crushed Japan in straight sets 25-16 25-23
25-22 to stay undefeated and boost their hopes of a first
Olympic gold medal.
The Americans will meet a surprisingly strong Serbian team in
the last four on Thursday. Serbia ousted Russia 25-9 25-22 25-21
to become the first Serbian volleyball team to reach an Olympic
semi-final.
"We played extremely strong in attack and service, causing the
Russian receivers a lot of problems," said Serbian coach Zoran
Terzic.
Serbia will have to prepare for a very different game against
the United States, who play much faster and more as a team than
a Russian side that relies on two main attackers, Terzic told
reporters.
Earlier, Netherlands beat South Korea 3-1 and will go on to play
China on Thursday before Saturday's final and bronze medal
matches.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Andrew Hay, Bill Rigby
and Mark Lamport-Stokes)
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