China NT 2021

    Sorry if this has been brought up already (I'm new here), but does anyone know if Zhu Ting has been adversely affected by the horrific floods in China? When I heard that they were happening in her home province, my first thought was worrying whether it would have a negative impact on her at the Olympics. Maybe it was a factor in her poor performance against Turkey?

    Quote from Cordelia

    Sorry if this has been brought up already (I'm new here), but does anyone know if Zhu Ting has been adversely affected by the horrific floods in China? When I heard that they were happening in her home province, my first thought was worrying whether it would have a negative impact on her at the Olympics. Maybe it was a factor in her poor performance against Turkey?

    hasn't been brought up yet.


    Her father said in an interview (i can't find it anymore) that she was concerned about the floods, but there are other reasons for both her playing poorly and the loss to Turkey. afaik her family is safe from the flooding.


    [off-topic]

    There are also floods in Europe (notably Germany/Rhineland-Palatinate). Hope everyone is safe and we combat climate change together.

    Quote from KVB

    They seemed to have over practiced that most of them looked exhausted and super slow on court. Their reaction and movement were very slow when playing defense, which I have never saw that after JLP took over the team.

    they went back to the stupid low sets that was from 2018... although it's hard to tell because there's literally zero consistency in setting.

    Quote from KVB

    This time appeared to be more of the consistency issue from Ding Xia, which is even more worrying, as we all know Yao Di can NEVER set high balls properly.

    Yao Di did not look worse than Ding Xia last two games.

    Quote from KVB

    They seemed to have over practiced that most of them looked exhausted and super slow on court. Their reaction and movement were very slow when playing defense, which I have never saw that after JLP took over the team.

    Agree - and ZT's wrist does look like it's from over practising


    I'm not sure what is with the passing though, probably more of a mental issue (especially knowing how badly Ding Xia is setting)

    They just need to let the nervousness. They always seem under pressure. Gong really having a great meltdown in these 2 games. Hope tomorrow they will relax and can play better.

    Quote from KVB

    But Yao still couldn’t push the ball high enough for Zhu (& Zhang as well) in the moments she came in and set. It’s just Ding was too awful in the last twon games, and Zhu managed to adjust to Yao’s sets and score through some of those sets.

    Yes, Ding played like Yao Di, not the other way around.

    It's must wins from now on to guarantee a playoff spot without any scenarios.

    Quote from zhutingfan

    things are (very slightly) better this match... but I have some doubts on their ability to win vs. Russia, never mind Italy.

    If China can't defeat Russia, then it's virtually over. Italy has been their most difficult opponent this Olympics cycle.

    If China can't defeat Russia they don't have any business in QF... Even China being unrecognizable, it's Busato's Russia, it will be China against a 17yrs old