Volleyball news: Prospects of China’s volleyball teams in the 16th Asian Games
The 16th Asian Games are scheduled to run from 12-27 November, 2010 in Guangzhou, China. The big sports extravaganza will feature a large number of games and around 138 athletes will stage their talents in front of thousands of fans. The volleyball
tournament is an essential part of the campaign, which will be kicked off on Thursday, 18th November, 2010 with women’s competition.
Since the FIVB Women’s World Championship is covering its last leg in Tokyo, Japan, the hosts of Asian Games China will get a very short time to relax as they are playing in the final round. The team will travel to Guangzhou after completing the FIVB Women’s
World Championship.
The Asian Games Volleyball Tournament will be attended by 11 women’s teams. China, Japan, Korea Rep., Thailand, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, India, Korea DPR, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Maldives will be on the board to compete for the gold medal. The teams
will be split into two pools - Pool A and Pool B.
China, Thailand, Korea Rep., Tajikistan and Mongolia will play under the tag of Pool A, while Japan, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Korea DPR and India will be placed in the Pool B. In addition, the men’s competitions will start on Saturday, 13th
November, 2010 with 18 teams.
Thailand is defending the women’s title at the Asian Games this year. They have rewritten the history and ousted China for the first time at the 2009 Asian Championship. Thailand is determined to secure the title for another year but China will surely want
to win gold-ware. China captured the Olympic gold-medal in 2004 and also got their hands on the title trophy of 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, the Chinese team is going through a hard phase lately. The team has seen three coaches in the last 18 months, leading
to inconsistency within the team. They demonstrated a shaky performance at the FIVB Women’s World Championship 2010, which is underway in Japan.
China received a humiliating 0-3 defeat from South Korea in the Women’s World Championship 2010. Korea defeated China for the first time in last eight years. Likewise, China lost easy battles and failed to create a buzz in the game. They have now settled
to play for the 9-12 position. The last time they failed to earn a slot in the first eight was in 1974. So, the team has so much to improve in order to regain their commanding position in Asian Games.
The Asian Championship is a vital chance for them to prove their endeavour and shake off the bad impression. The head coach is confident to make good progress at the home soil. Anyhow, they will have to cope with tough contenders from Thailand, Korea and
Tajikistan in Pool A. The local fans are desperately waiting for a chance to celebrate home-team’s victory. China is bound to perform well in front of the local audience, in order to save reputation.
The head coach of Women’s National Volleyball team of China, Yu Juemin expressed his views, "We have great pressure in the Asian Games. The China team are in a very difficult situation now. Asian teams such as Korea, Thailand and Japan have improved a lot
in recent years, and they will cause a lot of trouble for China."
On the other hand, the men’s team of China is supervised by Zhou Jian who has firm ambition to work out better results in the Asian Championship. Last year, they suffered the damage from Iran, Japan and Korea in the same event. China finished in the fourth
position but this time around, they target the title trophy. The team is prepared for the big challenge and enjoys a good form.
Tags: