The next Zhu Ting may be born from it

The average age of the Chinese women's volleyball team is 20 years old, which is the second youngest participating team in this Asian Cup, and several "post-00s" attackers have performed eye-catching. The picture shows Xu Jiannan, a free man. (Xinhua News Agency)

Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Yang Min

The 2022 Women's Volleyball Asian Cup ended yesterday in the Philippines. The Chinese women's volleyball team with the U20 national youth team as the team lost to the Japanese women's volleyball team 1-3 and won a silver medal. This is the seventh and last Asian Cup in history. In the history of the Asian Cup, the Chinese women's volleyball team won a total of five championships and two Asian championships, although it failed to end the journey with a championship, but it also achieved the goal set before the team match.

Kuang Qi, the head coach of the U20 national youth team who led the team to participate, believes that it is necessary to strive to find top-notch players in every age group, so as to ensure the future prosperity of the Chinese women's volleyball team, And Zhu Ting grew up from the national youth and finally won the Olympic championship. In this Asian Cup, several "post-00s" attackers performed eye-catchingly, and Wu Mengjie and Zhou Pageong, who are also 20 years old, were selected for the best team. Although they may not be able to catch up with the women's volleyball world championship that starts in September, in time, maybe the next Zhu Ting will be born among them.

The Youth Army participated in the last Asian Cup

The post-00s attackers were entrusted with heavy responsibilities

The first Women's Volleyball Asian Cup was founded in 2008 and has been held every two years since then. In the past six cups, the Chinese women's volleyball team has won five championships and one runner-up. In September 2012, the Chinese women's volleyball team, which only finished 5th in the London Olympic Games, sent all its main forces to participate in the Asian Cup held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and lost to the Thai women's volleyball team in the final, ranking second. Since 2014, the Chinese women's volleyball team has sent second teams or national youth players to participate in the Asian Cup. Despite this, it has won strong championships in the past three times.

The Asian Cup has become the "chicken rib" of Asian volleyball from the beginning of its inception, and the competition is scheduled to be held in September in the Olympic year, and Asian powerhouses often do not send their main players to participate after participating in the quadrennial Olympic Games. Moreover, the results of the Asian Cup are not linked to the qualifications of the world's three major competitions, so not only the Chinese women's volleyball team, but also the Japanese women's volleyball team, the Korean women's volleyball team, the Thai women's volleyball team and other Asian strong teams have gradually used this cup as a stage for the training of the youth army. In view of this, the Asian Volleyball Federation decided to reform the Asian Cup, and this year's Men's Volleyball Asian Cup and the Women's Volleyball Asian Cup are the last in history.

At the Asian Cup of men's volleyball held in Thailand in mid-August, the Chinese men's volleyball team sent all the main players to participate, regaining the championship after ten years. The Women's Volleyball Asian Cup will be held in the Philippines from August 21 to 29. Unlike the Chinese men's volleyball team to warm up for the World Championship with the Asian Cup, the first-line main force of the Chinese women's volleyball team is preparing for the World Championships held in the Netherlands and Poland next month at the Beilun Base in Ningbo, and the 14 players participating in the Asian Cup are based on the U20 national youth team, supplementing some of the middle generation players who participated in the national women's volleyball training camp. Wu Mengjie, Zhou Pageong, born in 2002, and Zhuang Yushan, born in 2003, were entrusted with heavy responsibilities, Sun Haiping, Hu Mingyuan, Cao Tingting and other players had relatively rich experience in the competition, and Wang Yifan, the 17-year-old guangdong women's volleyball team leader, served as the captain.

Among the nine teams participating in this Asian Cup, the Korean women's volleyball team is based on high school students, and the average age of the Chinese women's volleyball team is 20 years old, which is the second youngest team to participate. Although the Japanese women's volleyball team also sent non-first-line main players to participate in the preparation for the World Championships, the average age of the team reached 24 years old. The Thai women's volleyball team was sent to participate in most of the main players of this year's World Women's Volleyball League, and was regarded as the biggest favorite to win the championship before the game. Southeast Asian teams such as the Vietnamese women's volleyball team and the Philippine women's volleyball team are the main force and are not at a disadvantage in terms of average height.

The average age of the whole team is only 20 years old

Two games of 5 innings are worth a lot of exercise

In the group stage, the Chinese women's volleyball team won 4 consecutive victories, successively defeating the South Korean women's volleyball team, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team, the Philippine women's volleyball team and the Iranian women's volleyball team to advance to the top 8 with the first place in the group. Among them, the match with the Vietnamese women's volleyball team was won 3-2 after playing 5 rounds, which has considerable exercise value for the young Chinese women's volleyball team. Kuang Qi asked the players to be prepared for the difficulty of playing five sets at the pre-match preparation meeting. Before the tiebreaker, he told the players that they must let go of their hands and feet to fight, score the players, and lose the game he is responsible.

In the quarter-finals, the Chinese women's volleyball team lightly won the Australian women's volleyball team and successfully entered the top 4. The semi-final is another five-set battle, facing the championship-winning Thai women's volleyball team, the Chinese women's volleyball team reversed the opponent 3-2 after losing the first set. Wu Mengjie scored a team-high 29 points, and Zhuang Yushan and Zhou Pageong each contributed 17 points. Although the Thai women's volleyball team played well in this semi-final, and the young main force of the Chinese women's volleyball team also lacked experience in the competition, the team members still withstood huge pressure when they were behind. Kuang Qi sighed that the whole team showed the spirit of the tenacious women's volleyball team at the most difficult time. Wu Mengjie revealed that there is no secret to this victory, everyone is doing their best to do their best.

In last night's final, the Chinese women's volleyball team sent a starting lineup composed of the main attacker Wu Mengjie, Zhuang Yushan, the deputy attack Hu Mingyuan and Wang Wenhan, the second pass Sun Haiping, and the free man Xu Jiannan, although they tried their best, they still lost 1-3 to the Japanese women's volleyball team with an average age of 24, and the score in 4 rounds was 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 16-25. In terms of individual awards, the Chinese women's volleyball team has 3 people selected for the best team of this Asian Cup, 20-year-old Wu Mengjie was selected as the best main attacker, 20-year-old Zhou Pageong was selected as the best receiver, and 26-year-old Hu Mingyuan, who has participated in the 2018 World Championships and Asian Games, was selected as the best secondary attacker, and she is also the oldest member of the team.

"Winning or losing is just a result, we will find the gap between the team in terms of technology and tactics through the game, and strive for excellence in future training or the cultivation of the personality characteristics of young players." Kuang Qi hopes to find a gap in the competition with other Asian opponents, promote the growth of young players, and better cultivate and transport talents for the Chinese women's volleyball team. He believes that the echelon construction of the Chinese women's volleyball team must keep up, and there can be no personnel disconnection. As an echelon coach, he has the obligation to deliver fresh blood and excellent reserve players to the Chinese women's volleyball team. The performance of the Chinese women's volleyball youth army in this Asian Cup is indeed remarkable, even if the women's volleyball World Championship in September is not their stage, but two years later in the Paris Olympic Games, and even the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, they may be the next Zhu Ting of the Chinese women's volleyball team.

Source: Guangzhou Daily