China got off to an ominous start of their World Championship campaign when they lost to Bulgaria 25-14, 25-19, 25-22 in their first group match here on Saturday. [Xinhua Photo]

China got off to an ominous start of their World Championship campaign when they lost to Bulgaria 25-14, 25-19, 25-22 in their first group match on Saturday.

Thanks to Bulgaria's lapse, China staged a fierce comeback in the third set, but when trailing 21-22, they made three unforced errors in a row to concede the match.

"The gap between us and Bulgaria is very noticeable, they are comprehensively better than us," said Zhou Jianan, China's coach. "My players worked admirably hard, but they were put under too much pressure by Bulgaria, and made some mistakes, especially in attack and serving."

Shen Qiong, China's captain, agreed with Zhou that Bulgaria deserved the win.

"Tactically and technically, they were better than us. We also made too many mistakes which cost us dear," he said.

China choked when they were 14-11 behind in the first set, allowing Bulgaria to build an unassailable lead with a 6-0 run.

And in the second set, they choked again when the score was tied at 11-11, and Bugaria broke away by winning the next five points.

Despite their win, Silvano Prandi, Bulgaria's head coach, was not pleased with his team's performance. "Psychologically I am glad with the win. But in the technical view, I am not happy. We made too many mistakes during the match, maybe because it's the first match," he said.

In an earlier group match, France beat Czech 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 24-26 and 15-10.