Ending the Tokyo Olympic Journey Xue Chen and Wang Fan expect to continue the sand row

Tokyo, 2 Aug (Xinhua) -- Title: Two ninth-place Tokyo Olympics

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Jingyu and Lu Xingji

On August 1, Xue Chen and Wang Fan ended their journey to the Tokyo Olympics, where the two beach volleyball stars and their partners both finished ninth, and their common wish is to continue their Olympic and sand volleyball edges.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 19-year-old Xue Chen and Zhang Xi won the bronze medal together. In 2012, she and Zhang Xi finished fourth at the London Olympics, and a year later they teamed up to win the World Championships, rewriting the history of beach volleyball in China.

Not long after the World Championships, Zhang Xi, then 28 years old, chose to retire. After changing partners, Xue Chen failed to get tickets to the Rio Olympics with his new teammates. After the 2017 National Games, Xue Chen once chose to retire, and later decided to return to prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

"If I hadn't been absent from Rio, I probably wouldn't have had so much desire for the Tokyo Olympics." Xue Chen said.

After the comeback, Xue Chen had to adjust both psychology and technology. Psychologically, when he and Zhang Xi "debuted at the peak", they did not experience the feeling of slow climbing, and they were very uncomfortable at the beginning.

"The grades didn't go up at the beginning, there were a lot of problems, and I was anxious for a while. The coach looked at me haggard and said let me go to rest. Xue Chen recalled, "Slowly I found that I did not accept the current state, and I was unbalanced compared to before." Later, I began to accept my current self, control what I could control, and what grades I hit was what grades I had, and I complied with them. ”

Xue Chen, who is 1 meter 89 tall, has a specialty when he was young, which was blocking nets and playing in the front row. After partnering with Wang Xinxin, in order to have better results, she changed to a defensive player in the back row. The gap was large at first, but the effort was not in vain. "Now I can already say that I am a competent defender." Xue Chen said.

For the new duo of Xue Chen and Wang Xinxin, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has given them more time to run in and improve. Xue Chen said that if the Olympic Games were held last year, it was likely that she would not be seen in the Olympic games. Because of the low points ranking, the Tokyo Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the end of June is xue chen/Wang Xinxin's only chance to storm the Olympic seats. Originally, they were attacking this seat with another Chinese player, because their teammates were injured, Xue Chen/Wang Xinxin fought alone to win 6 consecutive games, and finally took the last train to Tokyo.

"I really can't lose a game, and I can't believe it the moment I get the qualification." Xue Chen said.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Xue Chen/Wang Xinxin, as the lowest-ranked player in the group, achieved a record of two wins and one loss, and successfully advanced to the round of 16. Unfortunately, in the quarter-final on the 1st, they lost to an Australian pair and failed to go any further.

For the 32-year-old Xue Chen, this is likely to be the last time she will participate in the Olympic Games as a team member. She joked that she envied that journalists could participate in every session, and hoped that she could also participate in this session. Xue Chen, who served as a member of the FIVB Athletes' Committee, hopes to continue his fate with beach volleyball, volleyball and the Olympic Games in different capacities in the future, and make new contributions to his favorite projects.

Wang Fan, 27, participated in the Olympic Games for the second time. At the Rio Olympics five years ago, she and Yue Yuan reached the round of 16 as the only Chinese team to compete. In the quarter-finals, they lost 0-2 to world champion Brazilian duo Agatha/Barbara.

Five years later, Wang Fan's partner was replaced by Xia Xinyi, and Yue Yuan's identity became the coach of the Chinese team. Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi won all 3 matches in Group C. Among them, in the match on the 27th, they beat the world number one Brazilian Agatha /Duda. Although Agatha has a new partner, Wang Fan can also be regarded as a successful revenge.

On 31 July, the matchup in the Round of 16 was revealed, with Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi, who finished first in Group C, playing against Patricia/Rebecca, who finished third in Group D. The moment they saw the signing, Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi made up their minds to take this ball as the last game.

"In the last few encounters, we all lost 0:2. Highly speaking, they will focus on hitting me, and I still have some pressure. Wang Fan said.

On the morning of August 1, Wang Fan/Xia Xinyi lost at 14:21 and 21:23. Like Xue Chen/Wang Xinxin, they also ended up in a tie for ninth place.

"The last and this edition both lost 8-16 to the Brazilian duo, unfortunately there are, but we did our best. In the group stage, I won the Brazilian player who had never won before, the confidence was much better than before, and my partner and I were getting better. Wang Fan said.

Being able to stand on the olympic field, Wang Fan is very content. Last year, because of the three-degree tear of the meniscus of both knee joints, she did not practice her skills systematically for a month or two. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the chances of Chinese players participating in international competitions have been greatly reduced. Fortunately, this year, Wang Fan / Xia Xinyi won enough points in this year's 3 World Tour sub-stations to advance to the Olympic Games, which also made Wang Fan very excited.

She said: "Although this race is a pity, it is now over. However, the encouragement given to me in the past two years is still very good, no matter how you can do what you want to do. ”

Wang Fan told reporters that because of epidemic prevention reasons, the experience of this Olympic Games is very different from that of Rio. In the canteen of the Olympic Village, in addition to eating, everyone wears a mask and disinfects when entering and leaving the door. For the safety of all, try not to reach out to other people. Because I wear a mask, sometimes people don't recognize it.

For the future development, Wang Fan has not yet made up his mind. Three years later, at the Paris Olympics, she may continue to sprint, or she may strive to participate in a new identity.

"After all, after playing sand volleyball for more than ten years, I have feelings, which is also what I am good at, I hope to see the sand volleyball getting better and better, and I also hope to continue to come to the Olympic Games."

Source: Xinhua News Agency