On May 31, the Chinese women's volleyball team, which has not played for a long time, appeared in Nagoya Station of the World Women's Volleyball League with a new lineup, ushering in the first match of 2023. After a 3-2 victory over world powerhouse Brazil, preparations for the Paris Olympic cycle officially began.
Chinese women's volleyball team
National team coach Cai Bin will inspect the team members and run-in lineup through the next series of events, which is currently only one year away from the Paris Olympics, according to past experience, the Olympic lineup will generally be basically determined about a year before the start of the competition, and individual positions can be fine-tuned. Today we will take stock of who can get on the Olympic train.
1. Firm class (7 people)
Main attack: Zhu Ting, Li Yingying
Secondary attack: Yuan Xinyue, Wang Yuanyuan
Second setter: Diao Linyu
Contact: Gong Xiangyu
Free man: Wang Mengjie
Zhu Ting
1, Zhu Ting: The leader of the Chinese team is still Zhu Ting, who has experienced a wrist injury and the downturn of the Tokyo Olympics, and Zhu Ting, who originally felt that she has entered the end of her career, returned this year and played another peak of her career in Scandic Italy, with her strong play, the club has achieved good results in European and domestic competitions. It can be said that whether the Chinese team can create glory in Paris depends on whether Zhu Ting can produce a superstar performance.
Li Yingying
2, Li Yingying: "Genius girl" is already a giant existence in domestic competitions, and won the league MVP and scoring king at the age of 20, and has been asking for everything in various competitions over the years. In the nearly 2 years that Zhu Ting has been recovering from injury, Li Yingying is the core of the national team, Li Yingying cannot be scored, and the team basically cannot win. After Zhu Ting's return, Li Yingying will definitely be Zhu Ting's best main attacking partner. However, we should also see that in the world volleyball, Li Yingying's weakness of not jumping enough and shooting slowly will be targeted in the competition, and if she can't break through, she can't become a superstar.
Yuan Xinyue
3, Yuan Xinyue: In the secondary attack position, Yuan Xinyue's position is still irreplaceable. As the new captain of the national team, Yuan Xinyue, who has experienced the victory of Rio and the loss of Tokyo, is no longer the young player of the year, and Yuan Xinyue, who integrates attack and defense, is what the national team needs. However, Yuan Xinyue has played very few matches in the past two years, and in the two years since the end of the Tokyo Olympics, although she signed a contract with the Tianjin women's volleyball team, she spent most of her time on campus. Having just recently returned to training, he needs to adjust quickly and integrate into the team.
Wang Yuanyuan
4, Wang Yuanyuan: Wang Yuanyuan, who defends strong and attacks weakly, has grown up from youth in the national team step by step. After the Tokyo Olympic cycle, Wang Yuanyuan, who has never lost the main team, has a higher and higher sense of presence in the game, not the small transparency in the mouth of fans in the past. In addition, because Wang Yuanyuan has been playing in the Tianjin team all year round, the cooperation with Zhu Ting, Li Yingying and Yuan Xinyue is very tacit, which can be regarded as the first moon near the water.
Diao Linyu
5, Diao Linyu: For Diao Linyu, it is really a daughter-in-law who has survived for many years. Xiao Diao, who missed the Tokyo Olympics due to injury, finally had his best chance at the end of his career. In the second setter position, Yao Di is old, Ding Xia is close to retirement, the young players are not mature, Diao Linyu is currently the best choice for the second setter of the Chinese women's volleyball team. Although Diao Linyu is not outstanding in terms of the ability of the second setter of the Chinese women's volleyball team, I believe that Diao Linyu will seize this rare opportunity and realize the Olympic dream.
Gong Xiangyu
6, Gong Xiangyu: The biggest echelon construction problem of the Chinese women's volleyball team in this decade is the position. There is only one star player, Gong Xiangyu, who has played almost all matches in this position since the Rio Olympic cycle. Fortunately, Gong Xiangyu became famous at a young age, currently only 26 years old, still in her golden age, I hope she recovers from her injuries, maintains a good competitive condition, and takes off again at the Paris Olympics.
Wang Mengjie
7, Wang Mengjie: Since squeezing out Lin Li at the last moment of the Tokyo Olympics and entering the main lineup, Wang Mengjie has occupied the position of the women's volleyball libero. Although the performance in the game has ups and downs, whether it is Lang Ping, Cai Bin, or the experienced Wang Mengjie. The position of libero attaches great importance to competition experience, and the long-term main player still has an advantage in the Paris Olympic cycle.
2. Promising category (2 people)
Main attack: Wang Yunwei
Sub-attack: Yang Hanyu
Wang Yunwei
8, Wang Yunwei: If we say that in the past two years, the biggest discovery of the Chinese women's volleyball team is Wang Yunbi on the main offensive line. In the Bayi team, Wang Yunbi's performance can be said to be tepid, and there was no particularly bright performance after joining the Beijing team. However, head coach Cai Bin has a keen eye and sees Wang Yunbi's speed specialty and dare to fight and fight temperament. During Zhu Ting's recuperation, Wang Yunbi played the main force in many games and performed quite brightly. In the Paris Olympic cycle, Wang Yunbi is likely to become a surprise soldier on the main offensive line of the women's volleyball team.
Yang Hanyu
9, Yang Hanyu: Many fans may have heard Yang Hanyu's name for many years, in fact, she is still a newcomer in the real sense, only 24 years old this year, and Li Yingying is the same team member. is just 1.98 meters tall and once won the MVP of the Women's Volleyball World Youth Championship, because the Chinese women's volleyball team has a lot of talents on the vice offensive line, and she has never had a chance to enter the Olympic team. After Xu Yunli and Yan Ni of the Great Wall of the North and South retired one after another, Yang Hanyu is increasingly likely to enter the Olympic plastic surgery.
3. Veteran escort class (2 people)
Second setter: Yao Di, Ding Xia
Yao Di
10, Yao Di: Yao Di is the main setter in the Tokyo Olympic cycle, because he is teammates with Zhu Ting, Li Yingying and Wang Yuanyuan in the Tianjin team, his position in the national team is naturally stable. At the beginning of this year, the 31-year-old Yao Di went abroad to play, although she has not played much, but she may continue her overseas career with occasional highlights. While maintaining competitive form, it is highly possible to make the Paris Olympic squad.
Ding Xia
11, Ding Xia: Ding Xia is the main setter of the Rio Olympic championship, because the second setter position is the hub of the whole team, in the Tokyo Olympic cycle, Lang Ping still chose Ding Xia, whose competitive status has declined, to escort. After winning the bronze medal of women's volleyball at the 14th National Games on behalf of the Liaoning team in 2021, she did not officially announce her retirement after entering the list of outstanding retired athletes in the sports situation of Liaoning Province. Then it can be imagined that the meaning of Ding Xia's insistence is to participate in the Paris Olympics.
4. Rising star category (2 people)
Second setter: Xu Xiaoting
Freeman: Ni Extraordinary
Xu Xiaoting
12, Xu Xiaoting: Strictly speaking, Xu Xiaoting is not a young player, and Xu Xiaoting, who is already 25 years old, has only begun to enter and exit the national team list. However, the current aging of the second setter of the Chinese women's volleyball team is serious, not to mention Ding Xia and Yao Di, even Diao Linyu, who has not yet participated in the Olympic Games, is 29 years old. Therefore, as the main setter of the domestic powerhouse Shanghai team, Xu Xiaoting still has a lot of room for development in the national team.
Ni Extraordinary
13, Ni Extraordinary: As a rare popular player in the women's volleyball team, Ni Extraordinary has received very high attention from fans. As the Jiangsu team gradually becomes a league powerhouse, the voice of Ni Fanwei being selected for the Olympic team is getting higher and higher, but in recent years, Xiao Ni's progress has not been obvious, and the performance of the competition has fluctuated greatly. Therefore, in order to enter the Paris Olympic team, Ni Weiwei also needs to improve his own strength and impress his mentor Cai Bin with actions.
5. Confusing category (1 person)
Main attack: Wu Mengjie
Wu Mengjie
14, Wu Mengjie: As the "little Zhu Ting" in the mouth of fans, Wu Mengjie, who has been listening to it for many years, is always in a state of "only listening to the sound of stairs and not seeing people coming down" in the national team. It stands to reason that head coach Cai Bin has watched Wu Mengjie grow up all the way, and it is unknown whether Wu Mengjie, who cannot enter the national team squad, has the opportunity to participate in the Paris Olympics.
Cai Bin
After the inventory, of course, there are still some players, such as Du Qingqing, Gao Yi, Zheng Yixin, etc. There is also hope, which depends on the vision of head coach Cai Bin.
Who do you think will be selected for the Chinese women's volleyball team for the Paris Olympic Games?