Chinese male volleyballers are in final stretch to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games with a busy training schedule.
Despite a record seventh place ending at the just-ended World League tournament, China's head coach Zhou Jian'an has not raised his expectations of the team's Olympic journey.
"Our goal to enter the final eight has not been changed," said Zhou.
The team, led by captain Shen Qiong, has two two-hour training sessions a day, one in the morning and the other in the evening, which helps the team to adapt themselves to the Olympic night competition schedule.
China, ranked 21st in the world, the lowest among the 12 competitors, is pre-approved to the Beijing Olympics as host. The team is grouped with the Athens runner-up Italy, the World Cup bronze medallist Bulgaria, the United States, the third-ranked team, Japan and Venezuela.
"The training schedule seems to be very busy, but the intensity is acceptable. I want the players to keep their levels, but I don't want any injuries," said Zhou.
Though not qualified for the World League final round in Brazil, Zhou is satisfied with the team's performance, saying the 6-6 win-loss record has greatly inspired the young players' confidence.
According to Zhou, after the world's preliminaries, China ranked top among 16 teams on receiving. Libero Ren Qi and Shen Qiong stood top two on receiving, Jiao Shuai was the best setter and spiker Yuan Zhi was the second best scorer.
"Such achievements are rare for China in international competitions," said Zhou.
The coach is now even more assured with the team's fast-attacking style of play.
"Facing much stronger and powerful opponents from Europe, we find little chance with head-to-head clash. But if we can be more changeable on strategy and give full performance of fast attack, we will find a way," said Zhou.
Twelve men's teams are divided into two groups to compete in the Preliminary Round of the Olympic tournaments in Beijing that run through August 10-18. The knockout stages run from August 20 to 24.
The latest and also the only Olympic show of the men's team went back to 1984, when the team headed for the Los Angeles in haste as the substitution of the defaulter Soviet Unions and finished with a dismal 8th place.
(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2008)