Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 1 (reporters Wang Jingyu and Wei Hua) Lang Ping, the head coach of the Chinese women’s volleyball team who is leading the training team, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua news agency reporters on the 1st that the new and old alternation of the team has not been completed, the difficulty of defending in Tokyo Olympic Games is more than winning the Championship in Rio Olympic Games, and the final result depends on the speed of progress of newcomers.
The training of the new Chinese women’s volleyball team began in the middle of February, and a total of 27 people were included in the training list. However, because the women’s Volleyball Super League is not over yet, many national players including Ding Xia, Li Yingying and Liu Xiaotong have not reported. On the morning of the 1st, the reporter saw in the training hall that the team trained 11 people, including yuan Xinyi, Lin Li, Liu Xiaoxiao, etc.
Looking back at last year’s world championships, Lang Ping said frankly that the bronze medal was earned desperately, which was very difficult. After the Rio Olympics, Wei Qiuyue, Hui Ruoqi, Xu Yunli, Yang Fangxu and other four generals retired one after another, and the newcomers have not yet fully topped up.
“It should be said that we can’t say that we are finished (in) the alternation between the old and the new, but we are not finished at all,” Lang Ping said. “The Olympic Games have retreated four old ones, and these four old ones are (accounting for) 1/3 of the team, after the new players are added, I think there are some problems in the competition experience, including technology, so we also hope to improve (in) this year’s training and competition, it must be further than last year.”
Lang Ping said bluntly that after several Olympic champions retreated, the Chinese team appeared short boards in many positions.
“I think our deputy attack and reception are short-cut, but they are short of people, including who will top our second-pass substitute after Wei Qiuyue comes down? After Hui Ruoqi came down, although Yingying emerged, the back row was still not good and there was a big gap. Zhang Changning’s situation should be better this year. She practiced less last year, and she was injured and operated, her front row (performance) was not very good in the world championship, with ups and downs. It should be said that since the old retreat, we have some deficiencies in the whole position.”
Lang Ping believes that from the perspective of last year’s World Championships, European teams have made rapid progress. They not only have a good attack, but also are comprehensive, fast, able to stop and defend. Like the Italian team that defeated the Chinese team twice in the world championships last year, its defense was particularly prominent, and the guarantee and consciousness on the court, especially the consciousness of no ball, were very strong.
In Lang Ping’s view, the competition of Tokyo Olympic Games cycle is more intense than Rio cycle. “It should be said that there are more strong teams. Serbia (world champion) basically didn’t adjust People. The old second pass came back and went up (in), and there were no loopholes in his whole position…… From our point of view, there are more challenges. You want us to earn a medal last year, America, Brazil…… (Not even in the top four). I believe that the United States is not the best state either. If everyone is in a state, there will be more opponents.”
The World Cup women’s volleyball competition, one of the three world volleyball competitions, will be held this year. Different from the past, due to the adjustment of the Olympic team production plan by the International Volleyball Federation, this year’s World Cup is no longer related to the Olympic seats, and its importance has declined.
“The most important task this year is the Olympic qualifier in August,” Lang Ping said. “The time is relatively short. It takes less than a month to play in the World League, and you must take out your cooperation and status.”
In the qualifier, the Chinese team is in the same group as the Turkish team, the German team and the Czech team. To directly enter the Olympic Games, the Chinese team must win the first place in the group. Lang Ping said that the Turkish team and the German team have made rapid progress. If the Chinese team makes slow progress, there will be many challenges.
Four years ago, the Chinese women’s volleyball team won the World Cup and then topped the 2016 Rio Olympics. Also in the year of the World Cup, Lang Ping believes that the current situation is different from that of four years ago, mainly because there is a lack of guarantee links.
“The last cycle was still much older. How many competitions did Yunli, Wei Qiu and Xiaohui play! Including Yang Fangxu is also quite characteristic, and the whole guarantee link is better.”
At the end of the interview, Lang Ping said that the difficulty of Tokyo Olympic Games is definitely bigger than that of Rio Olympic Games, but it is not that there is no possibility of defending.
“One session is more difficult than one session. That’s for sure. You have new and old alternates, and four of them have retired. If you want to win a reelection, it’s not impossible. It depends on your progress speed, you need to see the growth of new people. She also tried hard to practice. In the end, if the back row doesn’t work, you can’t help it, but we will do our best to improve them.”