Chinese NT 2018

  • Agreed! That will be China's toughest week. If Yuan Xinyue does return, Yan Ni should rest as a safety precaution to prevent injury. At least that way Yang Hanyu can remain in the roster and gain some experience.

  • Even though Zhu Ting returns to the team in week-3, I wish her just stands as a backup and let other players incl. those new ones play. I wanna see Liu XT, Duan Fang, Li YY, Gong XY (agree that Yang FX is not so good, lacks of agility though powerful, Gong is the better choice over all), Hu MY have more playing time. Not sure that Duan at 24 is "young enough" to just start with the CNT, but giving her more playing time may possibly improve her skills in dealing with the world's teams. Zhu's role will be critical for instance in the match against SRB esp at the terminal stage of the 2nd and 3rd sets (just imagined that if Zhu was there at the critical points in the 2nd set perhaps CHN already led 2-0) provided the winning there was anything significant and heartedly sought after. But even without Zhu's playing, the current lineup should be enough to play competitively against ARG JPN ITA in the HKG leg. Esp the prelim stage (those 5 weeks) should provide more playing time for the potential young/new players. Winning here should be the 2nd goal. If seek for winning in the VNL the Final-6 is the more appropriate venue. Btw the HQ replays of the Chinese team can be found at YT user: Volley Today, just search around.


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

  • This match against Argentina who is weakest team in the Volleyball Nations League would've been a good opportunity to let new players exercise. That first set was way too close (25-22). Yes, it was great that Zhu Ting returned, but she and Yan Ni shouldn't have been needed the whole match. I'm surprised Lang Ping didn't rest Liu Xiaotong who has been working hard the last two weeks. I would've liked to see more of Hu Mingyuan, Duan Fang, Li Yingying, and Yang Hanyu.

  • I think this game was meant for Zhu to get any rust off. Easiest team was the best way for that. Also China needed a win after a loss to Serbia to get some momentum. There are plenty of games left for youngsters to play.


    Liu Xiaotong has been playing a lot of minutes because her role has always been coming off the bench. It's pretty much her secondary role when starters are missing.


    So far the reception and offense have been terrible so this team has a lot to improve on. Getting wins is the best way to get some morale boost.

  • I think this game was meant for Zhu to get any rust off. Easiest team was the best way for that. Also China needed a win after a loss to Serbia to get some momentum. There are plenty of games left for youngsters to play.


    Liu Xiaotong has been playing a lot of minutes because her role has always been coming off the bench. It's pretty much her secondary role when starters are missing.


    So far the reception and offense have been terrible so this team has a lot to improve on. Getting wins is the best way to get some morale boost.


    You make a good point jetmasters I forgot about the morale boost Zhu Ting brings to the team. It really showed throughout the game and boosted everyone's confidence. Hope this will be a great new start for the team. It will be a hard battle to beat China's rival, Japan, who's confidence must be over-top after defeating Italy in a 5 set thriller.

  • You make a good point jetmasters I forgot about the morale boost Zhu Ting brings to the team. It really showed throughout the game and boosted everyone's confidence. Hope this will be a great new start for the team. It will be a hard battle to beat China's rival, Japan, who's confidence must be over-top after defeating Italy in a 5 set thriller.

    Playing against Japan has always been tough for China so China needs to be ready if they want to win. Can't afford another loss like the one against Korea. I think Zhu will play the rest of the matches. I think she will rest for 5th week since it is in Germany.

  • Hu is definitely outperforming the others which is surprising. I like the energy she brings to the team. It'll be interesting to see how Lang Ping incorporates her in the future since China's middle blockers are normally tall, which unfortunately she is not.

  • China got outplayed by Italy. This pretty much exposes China's main weaknesses, frankly reception and offense. When Zhu cannot score, no one is there to step up. There is no stable secondary scoring option. Pretty much everything depends on other players filling the gap for those that are not scoring.


    Another weakness is setting position. Last few major tournaments, China had to use 2 setters back and forth. This means there is no stable setter and this time the backup is not as good as before.


    We will see how China does against their hardest opponents USA and Brazil next week. Lang Ping wasn't joking when she said this team is top 6 at best so far. There is still a lot to improve to be the best team.

  • Communication also seems to be a problem with the introduction of new players. Hu Mingyuan seems to be Lang Pings new favorite middle blocker. Wangy Yuanyuan and Yang Hangyu are going to need to work even harder to claim a position.


    Li Yingying looked a bit better, which shows shes training and trying hard. I read that Lang Ping arranged a pass training for Li with an assistant coach. Lang Ping is very patient with her progress. Her athleticism also needs improvement as far as spike/block height and even footwork goes. Do Chinese clubs emphasize a lot of strength/weight lifting exercises?


    I think that even though Ding Xia didn't play well this game, she is still China's go to setter. As far as her back up goes, Yao Di doesn't look promising. Are there any setters in the Chinese league that may have potential? If not, maybe it's time to move Gong Xiangyu at the setter position, but she did have some good matches as an opposite though. If I was Lang Ping, I would have a headache trying to figure it out.


    Hope Zhang Changning is recovering well. China could use her right now, but her health is the most important. Zeng Chunlei should return next week in Jiangmen and relieve some of the offensive load off Zhu Ting.

  • The new players will need time to grow so their level of play is expected. So far no break out stars even though Li Yingying and some MBs look promising from club play. Only surprise is Hu Mingyuan, who subbed in for Bayi players leaving for military games. But club and national teams are two different competition. That's why my hopes are not high for Li Yingying until she has proven herself.


    Since I don't follow club, can't tell you what kind of training each club provides for their players. Only thing I know is that over training ended a lot of players careers. That's why Lang Ping hired an American trainer, Rett Larson, for CNT. Rett pretty much said in an interview that Chinese strength training is inefficient and dated.


    In regards to clubs, Lang Ping said that no team in the Chinese league plays a fast tempo game. This is why the MBs are too slow to react to block. I also think the serving in the league sucks because the stats show high 80% reception percentage but is so bad against other national teams in VNL.


    As for other setters, there is still Diao Linyu that has yet to play so hopefully she does better than Yao Di. Yao has been with the team since 2014 so it is not a good sign for her. Ding has had a bad season with her club performance, and maybe mentally exhausted with all the drama surrounding Wang Yimei.


    Yeah most important is all players stay healthy for WCH. There are a couple of Asian tournaments in between so more chances for young players to prove themselves. Lang Ping never shows her final roster until the last minute.

  • for the setters positions there are some promising young players like sun haiping(Liaoning, 1996), cai yaqian (Shandong, 1998), rong wanqianbai (Jiangsu, 1997), meng dou (Tianjin, 1997), Xu xiaoting (shanghai, 1998) and Sun Yan (jiangsu, 189 cm, born 2001).

  • I read somewhere that Tianjin had the toughest training that overworked their players which led to injury and early retirement. Obviously their trophies showed their handwork, but at the cost of their players health. Hope things are different now though.


    It would be interesting if a club develops a fast paced style. Something different that can change the overall competition in the Chinese League.


    Does Feng Kun participate in youth training? Future setters could learn a lot from her experience. Her fast, but accurate hands were fun to watch especially since it was hard to tell who she was going to set.


    Those young setters won't get a lot of experience coming off the bench for their club teams, but I guess they have to start somewhere. If they train well and show skill/stability by Tokyo 2020, they may make the national team cutting out Yao Di and Diao Linyu chances.

  • Oh yeah Tianjin is notorious for their training. I didn't even know Wei Qiuyue already had her 2 knees messed up during 2012 London Olympics. No wonder she was slow. It was very painful to watch her cry during those needle injections into the knees. I'm glad her can retire with a Gold medal. I'm concern what Tianjin will do to Li Yingying.


    Feng Kun can definitely help young players. Last time I heard of her was from Tomen on this forum, where she was coaching some youth squad I think. Sun Haiping and Meng Dou did get on the training list. Hopefully they will improve. Many people have high hopes on Sun Haiping. We will see how well they can play in actual games, possibly in Montreux.

  • The sound of it makes me cringe. Wish her a happy and healthy life now that she has retired along with a gold medal for all that she has done for China.


    We shall see in the upcoming competitions, which players will rise to the occasion and improve their skills.

  • The roster of VNL 2018 in Week 4 will be:
    S - Ding Xia, Yao Di
    OP - Yang Fang-xu, Gong Xiang-yu
    OH - Zhu Ting, Liu Xiao-tong, Duan Fang, Li Ying-ying
    MB - Yuan Xin-yue, Yan Ni, Wang Yuan-yuan, Hu Ming-yuan
    L - Lin Li, Wang Meng-jie


    Yuan Xin-yue replaces Yang Han-yu and three MBs of 2013 U18 WCH are together once again.
    Zeng Chun-lei (OP), Meng Zi-xuan (L) and Diao Lin-yu (S) may join the team in Week 5 and go to Germany.

    My favourite roster of Chinese (in 2022)
    male NT:
    S - Yu Yao-chen, Chen Lei-yang
    OP - Jiang Chuan, Dai Qing-yao
    OH - Zhang Jing-yin, Yu Yuan-tai, Liu Li-bin, Fu Hou-wen
    MB - Zhang Zhe-jia, Peng Shi-kun, Li Yong-zhen, Jiang Zhen-yang
    L - Yang Yi-ming, Yang Tian-yuan


    female NT:
    S - Yao Di, Diao Lin-yu
    OP - Gong Xiang-yu, Sun Xiao-xuan
    OH - Li Ying-ying, Wang Yi-fan, Wu Meng-jie, Zhuang Yu-shan
    MB - Yuan Xin-yue, Wang Yuan-yuan, Zheng Yi-xin, Liu Yu
    L - Ni Fei-fan, Xu Jia-nan

  • Conguatulations!
    Bayi men's VC also gets the runner-up.


    http://sports.qq.com/a/20180604/017324.htm

    Images

    My favourite roster of Chinese (in 2022)
    male NT:
    S - Yu Yao-chen, Chen Lei-yang
    OP - Jiang Chuan, Dai Qing-yao
    OH - Zhang Jing-yin, Yu Yuan-tai, Liu Li-bin, Fu Hou-wen
    MB - Zhang Zhe-jia, Peng Shi-kun, Li Yong-zhen, Jiang Zhen-yang
    L - Yang Yi-ming, Yang Tian-yuan


    female NT:
    S - Yao Di, Diao Lin-yu
    OP - Gong Xiang-yu, Sun Xiao-xuan
    OH - Li Ying-ying, Wang Yi-fan, Wu Meng-jie, Zhuang Yu-shan
    MB - Yuan Xin-yue, Wang Yuan-yuan, Zheng Yi-xin, Liu Yu
    L - Ni Fei-fan, Xu Jia-nan

  • Well, the opposites so far have been disappointing, mainly on offense. If I had to choose, I would take Gong and drop Yang Fangxu because Gong is more stable on reception and she can set when necessary.


    The new MBs have not shown any impact so far but I think Yuan and Yan are good enough barring any injuries. China will need to find some good backups. Hu is on top of the grade so far. Too bad about her height though.


    Setters are still a big roller coaster, no consistency. Don't think Diao will make any difference since she hasn't play much. I think Zhu will take a rest in week 5 and Zeng will come back, along with Gao Yi and Diao hopefully.

  • It would be interesting to see a match where Gong Xiangyu plays setter. Maybe Diao Linyu will surprise us in Germany, though her performance hasn't been a wow factor.


    I really hope other setters that weren't picked for the VNL are working and training hard because that's the most crucial position for China right now. Fingers crossed that Feng Kun has a young disciple she is training that has potential.