Olympic observation China women’s volleyball team aims to defend its title. ＂We have waited for five years, and we are ready!＂

Volleyball officially became an Olympic event at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. China women’s volleyball team won gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 and the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. It is the only Olympic champion team in China’s "three big balls" event. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games is about to open. As the defending champion, head coach Lang Ping will lead China women’s volleyball team to attack the Olympic champion again!

Lineup: Lang Ping hopes that these 12 people are the best choice.

The 12 players of China women’s volleyball team in Tokyo Olympic Games are: Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning, Li Yingying and Liu Xiaotong as main attackers, Yuan Xinyue, Yan Ni and Wang Yuanyuan as auxiliary attackers, Ding Xia and Yao Di as second setters, Gong Xiangyu, Liu Yanhan and Wang Mengjie as free men.

On July 19th, China women’s volleyball team went to Tokyo Olympic Games. Image source: China Women’s Volleyball Team Official Micro

Among them, the oldest is Yan Ni, 34, and the youngest is Li Yingying, 21, born after 00. Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning, Liu Xiaotong, Yuan Xinyue, Yan Ni, Ding Xia and Gong Xiangyu are the champions of Rio Olympic Games, while Li Yingying, Wang Yuanyuan, Yao Di, Liu Yanhan and Wang Mengjie participated in the Olympic Games for the first time. Judging from the list, all the main core players in the women’s queue are selected, but in the selection of the substitute lineup, Lang Ping is still stable.

Regarding the formation of the list of 12 players, Lang Ping said: "This list has been brewing for a long time, and the whole coaching team is discussing what kind of suitable and complementary lineup should be used to appear in the Tokyo Olympic Games. I also hope that this list is our best choice, and I hope that these 12 athletes can represent all the athletes participating in the training and play their best level. "

Prepare for war: encourage each other to survive the hardest days.

In the 2019 Women’s Volleyball World Cup, Lang Ping led the team to successfully defend its title with an unbeaten record of 11 consecutive victories. This is the tenth championship won by China women’s volleyball team in the three world competitions (Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup), and it also laid a solid foundation for the upcoming Olympic defending tour.

However, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Tokyo Olympic Games was forced to postpone, the FIVB also suspended all international competitions, and the China women’s volleyball team conducted training for seven months without an international competition. "In the most difficult days, we were completely enclosed, relying on each other’s support and companionship." Lang Ping said with emotion, "Thank you for your persistence and hard work. In the days when there was no competition at all and only boring training was left, we still encouraged each other and practiced every day as much as possible, helping our team gain valuable experience in a special period."

On May 1st, 2021, China defeated Japan 3-0 in the women’s volleyball competition on the first day of the Tokyo Olympic Volleyball Test. The picture shows China player Zhu Ting (right) spiking in the game. Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Yiyi photo

In May this year, the volleyball test match of Tokyo Olympic Games was restarted. As the only invited team, China women’s volleyball team played a test match with Japanese women’s volleyball team in Youming Gymnasium, the venue of Tokyo Olympic Games. In the end, China beat its opponent 3-0. This test match is of great value to China women’s volleyball team, which not only adapts to the Olympic venue in advance, but also makes the players who have not participated in international competitions for more than a year find their feelings on the field.

At the end of May, the 2021 World Women’s Volleyball League was held in Rimini, Italy in the form of "safety bubble". China women’s volleyball team sent a substitute team to participate in the first stage of the competition. Although the team only achieved 4 wins and 5 losses, more substitute players got the opportunity to play, which also made the coaching staff have a greater grasp of the choice of the Olympic list. After 9 matches, the six main players of China women’s volleyball team returned to the team. In the following 6 matches, the China team won a total victory even against Italian, Russian and American teams. Zhu Ting, Yuan Xinyue, Gong Xiangyu, Ding Xia and other main players are in a stable state, which also makes fans have more expectations for the upcoming Olympic journey of China women’s volleyball team.

Playing: After waiting for five years, we are ready.

According to the rules, the 12 women’s volleyball teams participating in the Tokyo Olympic Games were divided into two groups, with 6 teams in each group playing 5 round robin matches. The top four teams in the group entered the quarterfinals, and finally decided the champion by eliminating the competition system.

In the latest world ranking of women’s volleyball, the United States tops the list, followed by China and Brazil. The fourth to tenth places are Turkey, Japan, Dominica, Russia, Netherlands, Italy and Belgium. At the Tokyo Olympics, China was in Group B with the United States, Russia, Italy, Argentina and Turkey.

On July 25th, China will make its debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games, against the Turkish team. As a European team with rapid rising momentum in recent years, the Turkish team has considerable strength. At the World Women’s Volleyball League which ended last month, China sent a substitute team to play and lost 3-0 to the Turkish team. At the Tokyo Olympic Games, it was not a big problem for the China team to get off to a good start.

On June 20th, 2021, in the preliminaries of the 2021 World Women’s Volleyball League held in Rimini, Italy, China beat the United States 3-0. The picture shows China player Yan Ni (first from left) blocking the ball in the game. Xinhua news agency

For China, the first real test of this Olympic Games is the game against the United States on July 27th. Since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, China women’s volleyball team has lost to its opponents in three consecutive Olympic Games. This American team in Tokyo Olympic Games has many excellent players, such as Larson, Bucky, Robinson, Akinradewo and Poulter, and its strength is good. This year’s World Women’s Volleyball League,The United States defeated Brazil 3-1 in the final to win three consecutive championships. Although it lost 3-0 to China in the last game of the preliminary round, the United States, which won 14 consecutive victories at that time, had ensured the qualification, so it did not send its main force to play. In the group competition of Tokyo Olympic Games, it was China who defeated the American team.teamThe first important goal.

China will play Russian, Italian and Argentine teams in the next three group matches. In recent years, the main players of the Italian women’s volleyball team have gradually matured, especially Egnu, who has strong strength, strong explosive force and extremely lethal re-buckle. How to restrain Egnu’s play is a problem that China women’s volleyball team must solve. Russia sent a number of young players to the Olympic Games this time. The absence of famous players such as Kosheleva, Parubetz and Romanova greatly reduced the strength of the team. In the last two games of the group stage, it was believed that China women’s volleyball team would achieve satisfactory results against Russia and Argentina, which ranked 16th in the world.

In addition to the opponents in the group stage, Serbian women’s volleyball team may pose a threat to China women’s volleyball team in the knockout stage. In the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, China women’s volleyball team defeated its opponent in the final, and reached the Olympic champion podium after a lapse of 12 years. During the Tokyo Olympic cycle, the main lineup of Serbian team has not changed much. Boskovich, Ogennovic, mikhailovich, Lasic and S Popovich will all play in the Tokyo Olympic Games. At the same time, Kosic, lazovic and Caric, who have performed well in this year’s World Women’s Volleyball League, have also been successfully selected. As the champion of the 2018 World Championships, Serbian women’s volleyball team will be one of the strong opponents of China women’s volleyball team.

On July 19th, China women’s volleyball team successfully arrived in Tokyo. "I am very excited to come to Tokyo this time. We are ready, because we have waited for five years, and the time is quite long. Finally, we have the opportunity to embark on the journey of the Olympic Games, and the team is in good shape. Our goal is to attack medals and fight one by one. The Olympic Games is different from the usual leagues. Every game is very difficult. We will go all out and hope to play the best level and win glory for our country. " As Lang Ping said, the defending champion China women’s volleyball team is ready!

The women’s volleyball schedule of Tokyo Olympic Games (Beijing time);

At 15:25 on July 25th, China VS Turkey.

At 10:05 on July 27th, China VS USA.

China VS Russian at 15:25 on July 29th.

China VS Italian at 20:45 on July 31st.

August 2, 15:25 China VS Argentina.

August 4th quarter-finals

August 6 semi-final

August 8 final

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