Chinese NT 2018

Maybe we will see Zhang Changning at the Asian Games since there was a picture of her training with Yao Di in the gym. She has a month to get back into shape before the competition begins, though she still needs to take it easy. It would be a good idea to have her play against the weaker teams if her body is healthy and ready.

That picture also means Lang Ping is still giving Yao Di more time on the national team. I wonder how long will it be before the coaching staff realizes that she isn't improving. Diao Linyu should be the one getting more chances to play to improve her connection with the players and to gain more experience at a higher level.

Yao Di might be sent to Asian Cup which could mean her last chance to stay on the team training list.

From “Volleyball today” Weibo post on 10 July, previously this volleyball fan maintained an active youtube channel on volleyball before his/her account was killed due to uploading those VNL matches what a pity!

On WEI QIUYUE

Severe knee injury made the Chinese women's volleyball team's "three dynasties veteran" Wei Qiuyue spend almost the last period with the knee injury, treatment and rehabilitation, when the final match of the 2015 World Cup against the Japanese team reached the match point, when Lang Ping "suddenly" changed Wei Qiuyue on the court, my tears burst out. Since the 1980s, she has suffered a wounded illness for this collective struggle, and Lang Ping, who was still undergoing surgery and rehabilitation last year, is the person who knows the heart of Wei Qiuyue.

The Rio Olympics Wei Qiuyue appeared on the field with a slightly recovered leg. It was a little difficult for her to walk. It was like a computer-controlled machine that accurately transported the “cannonballs” for the attackers, even the leaps. Rescuing the dangerous ball, the person who knew her situation, squeezed a sweat for her in front of the TV, and the whole heart was watching her play every game.

AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS MONTH, Wei Qiuyue accepted a minimally invasive treatment on her left knee. Faced with a long road to recovery, she said firmly: "I will actively work hard to face it." As your fans, I just want to say: jujube (Chinese dates), peanuts! (I guess this closing phrase means it's easy, smooth, have no worry).

https://m.weibo.cn/status/Gpju2t4fU

Too bad this forum has no facility for direct upload of images, make it very difficult to make such post from phone.

Please check a couple of Wei's beautiful pictures there, one of her wedding, the other of her latest.

On a separate news that I read the other day (sorry, forget the article link & the name of the Chinese media source, cannot locate it again), but in essence, the news reported that one of the biggest headache for the Lang Ping and her team in managing the CNT incurred by domestic issue, will be solved soon.

The OC of Chinese Volleyball League will shorten the grand final matches between the top two teams from the best of 7 matches, cut short into the best of 5 matches, applicable for the new season.

In the last season, the prolonged competition between Tianjin VC vs Shanghai VC into the 7th match had much reduced the available time for the CNT members to train together to cope with big tournament. The two finalists happen to host many CNT members. Such problem is to be solved immediately, which is a great relief for the CNT coaching team. (Posted via Huawei P9 Plus)

I agree, best of 5 for the finals is a much smarter idea. Though a 7 game match was thought to be good for business, the health of the players are much more important than the money being made.

Now the NT will have more time to train together and work with Lang Ping instead of being rushed and using inexperienced players as supplement while the main members of NT was participating in the finals. This will benefit the Chinese NT a lot because other leagues tend to finish their season much later.

Quote from tomen

a warm-up:
China U21 3-0 Fujian [25-23,25-16,28-26]
U21 lineup: Cai Ya-qian, Chen Pei-yan, Qian Jing-wen, Cai Xiao-qing, Li Ya-nan, Zhang Yu-qian, Chen Rui-lan (L)

Tomen, what is this U21 team preparing for? Some event in the remaining second half of 2018? Or 2019?

EDIT// I got it, this U21 team will participate in the BRICS Games in the South Africa. Chen Pei-yan is the outstanding player of this squad. Dunno when the games will be held.

The Jiangsu VC Minus was badly beaten by the Thai VC: 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-11). Saw Wang Chenyue, Wu Han, Zhou Xinyi, Xu Ruoya cs there (but the team misses Zhang—Gong—Diao), but not good enough to deal with the Thai NT Plus (Pleumjit, Ajcharaporn Kongyot, Nootsara Tomkom and few others plus one Black player). The event is called “The 2018 Asian Women’s CLUB Volleyball Championship” 11~18 July, hosted by Kazakhstan. With a squad like that, reaching SF will be an achievement indeed.

Moreover being put in the same pool, A, with THA & JPN just imagine there are THREE pools but THA JPN & CHN are placed into the same pool what an arrangement LOL
Poor Cai Bin to again command a much drained squad, after led a limping U20 squad, cleanwashed by the JPN in the final then.

AVC site on this tournament:
http://asianvolleyball.net/201…hip-results-and-schedule/

Btw, it's reported that Zhejiang VC will have a new charming player in this season, t-shirt #5, formerly played for Guangdong club, her name is Shiyu iirc, forget her surname.

International club volleyball is meaningless for Chinese clubs. In this new format, each team advances to playoffs. It's just a matter of seeding for group stage play. I think only Thai team takes this seriously because they send their national team each edition.

In the recent training pictures I noticed there wasn't Wang Yuanyuan. Has she not returned to the national team yet since that injury that kept her out of the VNL finals?

Quote from bumpsetspike

In the recent training pictures I noticed there wasn't Wang Yuanyuan. Has she not returned to the national team yet since that injury that kept her out of the VNL finals?

Until a couple of days ago I didn't spot Wang Yuanyuan with the NT anywhere, only saw Gao Yi, Hu Mingyuan, Yan Ni and Yuan Xinyue. Think her injury is still prohibitive for taking part.

A lax, partial translation of the article carried by the Tencent Sports...

The 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, Indonesia: Both Japan and South Korea teams will send their strongest lineups

Tencent Sports News, Beijing (2018-07-12) — The 18th Asian Games for the very first time will be held in two distantly located cities, Jakarta (Java Island) and Palembang (Sumatera Island), Indonesia from 18 Aug — 02 Sep 2018. But all the volleyball games will entirely be held in the capital city, Jakarta. The overall level of the Asian women's volleyball team is relatively high, making the competition for this sport one of the hot events of the Asian Games. As the opening date is approaching, many teams have announced their lists of 14 players in the Asian Games. As the old rivals of the Chinese squad, Japan and South Korea will both play their main lineups in this edition of the Asian Games.

The Japanese team will once again dispatch its core team in the Asian Games after 12 years [for the lineup, look at Japanese team's thread]. Since the establishment of the women's volleyball competition in the 4th Asian Games in 1962, which was also held in Jakarta, the Japanese women's volleyball team has won five consecutive championships, ranking second only to China's seven times. In recent years, due to the relatively close competition schedules between the Asian Games and the World Championships, the Japanese women's volleyball team did not send its main lineup in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. After a lapse of 12 years once again Japan will play its strongest lineup in the Asian Games, the Japanese women's volleyball team's strive for success is an obvious determination in Jakarta. Before the arrival of the quadrennial World Championships, the East Asian squads, China, Japan and South Korea will have a fierce fight at the Asian Games.

In the Incheon Asian Games four years ago, the Korean women's volleyball as the host won the championship, in the final beat the Chinese second squad led by Zhang Changning 3-0 to win the gold medal. As the defending champion of the tournament, the South Korean team will also send its strongest lineup to the event, led by Kim Yeong Kun, in a strive to achieve a good result in Jakarta.

https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/SPO2018071201889700

Now awaiting eagerly the Chinese squad to announce its 14-strong players to the Asian Games Seeing the news trend from the Chinese sports media, I do believe China will send its strongest lineup too in order to remain competitive

EDIT // My bold PREDICTION, the Chinese lineup to the Asian Games will equal to the 14-list of the VNL Final Six in Nanjing, only with the change that Zhang Changning will come back to replace either Yang Fangxu or Zeng Chunlei spot! And barring the health/fitness issues, I prefer to see Zeng stays in the AG and WCH cf. Yang (still feel the emphaty that Zeng missed the glory of Rio OG... Yang already earned hers).

A lax translation from Tencent Sports' article…

The women's volleyball team arrives at the Beilun training base! Closed door training for the coming Asian Games

Tencent Sports (2018-07-15)

Today, the Chinese women's volleyball team set out from Beijing to Beilun, Ningbo, Zhejiang to carry out the closed door training. Of course, this training is not only to prepare for the coming Asian Games, but also for the World Championship. In any case, these two events are the most important ones for the Chinese team this year. I hope the final results will not fail the girls' hard works.

The Chinese women's volleyball team will play in the same group as the KOR, TPE, KAZ, VNM and IND in the Asian Games. Opponent-wise only the KOR squad will be the serious contender for the CHN squad in the group matches, while those against the other teams can be used more for exercises, thus it's possible that the substitute rookies may play the most of the group matches, and the core players can slightly play less to let them take some rest. The Beilun intensive training this month can be carried out for nearly one month until around the August 15th for the Asian Games will commence on the Aug. 18th, the timing is just right. Although it is still a month away, both the JPN and KOR teams have been unable to resist the urge to announce their final squads in advance.

Can see that the two teams are in excitements, the JPN team has not been winning the women's volleyball championship in the Asian Games for 37 years, while the KOR team also actively wants to retain the Asian Games championship, though their chance is not that bright, the CHN team remains to be the most prospective one [to win this event] as long as they really fight for it. Then the teams of JPN and KOR may strive for the 2nd and the 3rd spots, and if either one of these two teams does not really play well, its spot can possibly be overtaken by the THA team. Therefore, at this time in the Beilun closed door intensive training, the bigger goal is to focus on the coming World Championship, with the smaller one is to take the title of the Asian Games, as well as to evaluate the performance of the intensive training taken. Cheer on the girls!

https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/20180715A0T7DJ00

A fellow netizen met by chance the Chinese women's volleyball team member Wang Yuanyuan at Tianjin TEDA Hospital 〔天津泰达医院〕. The netizen revealed that Wang Yuanyuan came to the hospital for “nuclear magnetics” 拍核磁 (I guess the Chinese term means some kind of imaging facility utilizing the isotope markers for clearer image). Posted at Sina Volleyball Weibo on 2018-07-17

From Sina Volleyball Weibo (2018-07-16) :

Zhang Changning returned to the national team. Facing the familiarity, she said she thanked the blank time — “I feel like a wallpaper, hoping to paint something better.” On the sickbed, the 23-years-old girl has had concerns, afraid not to keep up with everyone's footsteps and miss too much, but once she started to touch the ball, she returned to the confident girl on the court. “I had been completely rested for two months after the surgery. I have had my own fears, but I thought I was starting from zero. This rare absence period also gave me the opportunity to change. I know that I have to recover a lot. I want to draw something better on the white paper.”

Zhang Changning as the spokesperson of the Golden Gong 金锣 (Jin Luo) for its new healthy food products, a leading brand of meat products in China. The Golden Gong just signed a contract with the CVA to sponsor the Chinese women's volleyball team for the next three years as well as Zhang as its products ambassador (2018-07-16).

A lax translation:

The women's volleyball schedule in the Asian Games is released! — Eastday Sports (18 JULY)

The schedule of the Women's Volleyball Team Group matches in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games was just released. Here's the match schedule of the Chinese squad.

—19 AUG CHN v VNM

—21 AUG CHN v TPE

—23 AUG CHN v KOR

—25 AUG CHN v KAZ

—27 AUG CHN v IND

As a matter of fact, it is easy to see from the whole race that the most visible match in the preliminary round should be that one against the KOR team on 23 AUG. In this year's VNL, KOR squad defeated CHN (without Zhu Ting) 3—0. I believe that in the next encounter with the KOR team in the Asian Games, Zhu Ting will lead the team victoriously against them, a complete reversal from the VNL outcome. Losing to the KOR team there will be regarded as CHN team's poor performance.

The Chinese team has not yet announced its 14-player list in advance. It's believed that the Chinese team will not release the names within this July, which is a normal practice of the Chinese team. The main reason is the current 16 players in the closed training are expected to train well first.

As for the list, it should be selected from the 16 players under training now. From the current situation, the three positions are already very fixed. The four main attackers, Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning, Li Yingying and Liu Xiaotong, should not have too much problem, and four middle blockers Yuan Xinyue, Yan Ni, Hu Mingyuan, and Gao Yi. And two liberos, Lin Li and Wang Mengjie, are expected as well. For the opposite and setter, the answers are clear, only two players of each position will be selected. From the present training, it's estimated that no more player beyond the current 16 players to be included, because now the NT has to complete the whole team, and new player won't be able to keep up, so barring any unfortunate situation, the final list will just be selected from the current 16 players in training.

http://msports.eastday.com/a/180718020136390000000.html

What does "nuclear magnetics" mean? Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with that term, but based on what you said, it sounds related to the eye maybe? I thought her injury was in her knees.

I'm surprised Yang Fangxu is still training with the team, but I guess this could be her last year on the NT.

An Jiajie will try to keep Yang Fangxu in CNT as long as possible. Personally I think she is done based on her VNL performance. Her injury is just too serious to recover back to her top form. Even at her peak, she was just another supporting player so she won't be missed if Lang Ping decides to pull the plug on her.

Yang Fangxu's situation is a sensitive and complicated topic and it’s not only because of An jiajie. To put things in context, Yang was a rising star previous her injury and she was in the same league of Zhu, Yuan and Zhang. Besides Zhu, Yang was talented enough that Guidetti had also an eye on her.

Before joining the Chinese NT, she also had a bright future academically and her parents refused categorically to let her daughter invest in sport. But the local head hunters and her coaches kept insisting that with her talent, her future will be much brighter if her daughter chooses a sportive career. Her parents accepted finally with reluctance to let her daughter to play volleyball.

If the Chinese NT lets Yang down now, this could send a wrong signal to other players and it will be hard in the future for the Chinese NT to convince other young talented players (who have other options in their pocket) to join the Chinese NT. Because they would probably think that a sportive career is too demanding and too risky, and it’s better for them to choose a safer bet for their future. Also, solidarity is very important among the NT players. You don't let a comrade down because of her hardship.

Given the popularity of Zhu, Yuan and Zhang, probably Yang Fangxu is feeling unfair because of her situation. But she needs to accept her fate and she should start to think about her new career. She will probably stay with the Chinese NT for a while. But I doubt she will be part of 2020 OG roster