Gold medalists China's Li Jian(R2)/Zhou Shun (L2) pose during the awarding ceremony of the men's match of beach volleyball at Doha Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 11, 2006. Li Jian/Zhou Shun won the gold of the event. (Xinhua Photo/Chen Xiaowei)

Chinese Zhou Shu and Li Jian beat their compatriots Wu Penggen and Xu Linyin 2-1 to win the gold of men's beach volleyball at the Doha Asiad on Monday.

The bronze went to Indonesian Salim Agus and Supriadi Supriadi,who beat their teammates Ardiyansah Andy and Darkuncoro Koko Prasetyo 21-23, 21-18, 15-13.

The two Chinese pairings have met in preliminary round 4 when the top seeds Wu and Xu beat their countrymen 21-14, 21-16.

The two sides fought fiercely since the beginning of the final,tying from 1-1 to 6-6, when they began to exchange lead till 20-20draw. High-spirit Zhou and Li did not squandered the chance and took the first round 22-20 with two powerful spikes.

The more-experienced Wu and Xu maintained their poise and fought back strongly in the second round to take lead 5-1 and 11-7.Zhou and Li, however, failed to stem the winning momentum of theiropponents due to out-court spikes and poor defense, going down further 11-19. With a pair of unanswered spikes, Wu and Xu sealed the set 21-12 and pushed the match into the decider.

Both sides managed rallies and made the third set a mini-copy of the opener. Zhou and Li take the set and the match 15-13.

Earlier, Chinese top seeds Wang jie and Tian Jia scored a straight-set victory over Thai Kulna Kamoltip and Sannok Jarunee in the women's beach volleyball third-place playoff.

Chinese second seeds Xue Chen and Zhang Xi will fight for theirfirst Asian Game's championship in the women's final with JapaneseTanaka Shinako and Koizumi Eiko later in the day.

Thirty-seven teams from 19 Asian countries and regions were involved in the Asiad beach volleyball tournament which started from Dec. 2.

Editor: Donald