CHENGDU - China edged past Japan 29-27, 29-27, 25-22 to win the women's volleyball gold medal at the Chengdu Universiade here on Sunday.

China once led by five points in the opening minutes, but Japan stepped up its game to catch up. After Japan saved five set points, Wang Wenhan struck a winner to help China to take the first set.

The second set was hotly contested, and Japan even had the first set point, but it was China who raced into a 2-0 lead.

China kept its slight advantage throughout the third set. Zhong Hui scored her spike to award China the championship point before Japan made a serving error.

Wu Mengjie led China with 16 points, while Zhong Hui and Zhou Yuetong added 15 and 11 respectively. Both Ameze Miyabe and Yoshino Sato took 16 points each for Japan.

"China had good skills and also an advantage in height. This is what we admire and we'll learn from this. Today both teams staged a tight and exciting match," said Japan coach Masahiro Fujii.

"The match turned out to be excellent and we achieved our goal. Our players deserve the win because of the hard work we have made," said China coach Zhao Yong.