Posts by samsara

    wow. unreal. Afghanistan scored only 1... 6 of them were JPN mistakes.. what is this?

    How about being 20 years under armed conflict conditions? Or if one backs to even longer, as of Jimmy Carter era with Zbigniew Brzezinski because they funded Mujahideen to fight Soviet Union. Since then Afghanistan had non-stop armed conflict until the US sudden exit in 2021. That is the real political situation that deeply affected every part of their life, incl. sports. Therefore, nothing to wonder from this very unfortunate, miserable nation. If one reads the Australian journalist, film-maker and author, John Pilger on Afghanistan, he will grasp the realities there.

    I see. You quoted the Japanese source, of course they will write the way they use it: Surname First-name. I meant those Western publications, they will put the surname at the end. Or in the international sports, depends on the host. In particular this Asian Games, because the host is China, East Asia, they treat the naming order as it should be -- the Asian approach, regardless the language used.

    let's hope that thailand can do something at asian games then. Otherwise, if we wait until VNL, Cai might find a way to get us out of the olympics...

    There is no other Asian team that can beat the Chinese NT A full line-up, the last time it happened was in London 2012 , and it's still true nowadays, for any tournament in Asia that China deems as important. As I mentioned a couple of time, even WYL is still a good player in the Asian-level competition, she becomes effective when facing the Asian opponents. I just don't see any changes to such equilibrium. Japanese team know this well, that's why they avoided to send their A team to the Asian Games... they know China will certainly send full A team to the Asian Games... when was the last time Japan sent their A team to the Asian Games competition?


    I just checked a bit, the last time Japan won the Women's Volleyball championship in the Asian Games was in 1978 in Bangkok. Since that time, China only missed twice to win the championship titles, 1994 in Hiroshima and 2014 in Incheon, both taken by the South Korea. And I recall that in 2014 Lang Ping did not send her A team to the Asian Games... she had the WCH in Italy!

    I think the stats only tell half the story... the problems she created affect the overall performance and team morale. She disrupts the flow and rhythm of the team. Setters avoid her and as a result LYY is exhausted by being overused and is always targeted by blockers.

    This was what happened in the last point in the 5 setter against Canada. People are saying the ball should've gone to Wu in position 4 instead of LYY for a backrow attack... but for Diao, WYL was the one usually there (position 4) and she (Diao) was just instinctively, avoiding WYL, not realising Wu had replaced her.

    REALLY, under the tough competition with other strong teams, the team can not have a core element like the 2nd OH with the apparent weakness!! It will create a Big Hole when that player becomes a tame one and ineffective. Opposing team will exploit the weakness, and the Chinese team will suffer, as seen against CAN and also the NED. I am not an expert on the technical aspects of volleyball, but it's still obvious for me that WYL pulled down the team, and the head coach was so incompetent did very little to fix the situation as early as possible!


    May I remind everyone here, each time a player fails to kill the ball by playing "softly" (various ineffective hits), that player hands over that killing opportunity to the opposing team. That's what I saw from WYL being on court, hitting many times with "ineffective hits". A good player in her position will have killed the ball or put the opponent in a difficult, defensive position. A player of WYL quality will certainly sink the team, that's what happened in this OQT. And as Chow said, in a balanced team without the obvious hole, the setter may distribute the attacks to each position at any time she deems as having the best winning chance. But if the head coach put an inferior starter player there, in that position 4, then setter prefers to avoid that bad player, it creates a BIG HOLE, every one being not blind will see this flaw, let alone the prof. coach of the opposing team... myself is a lazy person to delve into all the technical matters still I can see clearly the hole when I watch the match... OMG... OMG... how can the team have such incompetent coach??? I'll be more empathetic if there is no other competent player to act as a sub.


    Team will not prosper under the dumb leadership! The Team will just sink as long as the commander issue is not fixed! It is so disappointing to learn and watching all these problems manifesting themselves.

    And the spots being occupied by those bad apples in NT will deny other prospective potential players from joining. In optimizing the potential power of the NT, things like this cannot be allowed to happen, moreover in a prolonged period. Also the club clique or club centric matter and other regional things need to be pushed out... club and league exist first of all to support the NT. It needs strong leadership with the national-level vision and guidelines and decisions, all for the best, optimum resources for the National Team! But sadly, perhaps it needs another debacle to wake up those with authority!

    Agree with everything you have said. Wang Baoquan, An Jiajie, even the U21 coach.... all better than Cai.


    Some people make fun of An Jiajie because he is incompetent compared to Lang Ping, but An Jiajie beat Italy's A team and beat Turkey in the rematch in 2019 VNL finals.


    He did not have Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning, Li Yingying, Yuan Xinyue, Yan Ni, Ding Xia, Zeng Chunlei, and Wang Mengjie available. Who can Cai Bin beat with the B team? Nobody...

    Anyone will be less shiny with Lang Ping being at the center, incl. An. Even if the team had debacle in Tokyo OG, I would still refrain myself from blaming her in view of her lifelong VB career, sacrifices (suffering incl. the surgery) and contribution to rebuild the team post the debacle in London OG! Regardless all the bitter feelings I took it as the unfortunate fateful timing that Zhu suffered severe injury around the event... quite fateful along with the virus tragedy. My only minor criticism about her was at the 2018 WCH when the team had chance to pick up the opponent in the SF that the team still went ahead full force vs. NED to top the group to face ITA i/o SRB in the SF (back then SRB already topped the other half)... but as a former very successful player herself perhaps Lang Ping had the 100% uncompromised full-faith like religion (thus sometimes she appeared as if being too naive) to avoid the craftier "tactical ways" to achieve good results unlike some other key figures!


    Thru the OQT the current head coach showed his outright incompetence in fielding players (e.g. the obvious blindness of playing WYL as starter), making substitutions and calling time out. Need a better general to uplift the actually still competent resources (just need some changes with the current personnel). Of course a quality head coach will also need to identify and nurture new young potential players to supplant the next cycles in order to maintain sustainable achievements across generations! Hope for the wisdom and vision to have a future! 🙏🏼

    SRB did save CB position by donating 8.44 pts in the irrelevant match, a poisonous gift for it helps retaining the bad general... otherwise a 4 losses in a streak will certainly catch more of the spotlight! Through the OQT the CHN team proved itself under the incompetent head coach that the team is great only at the Asian level (I still believe the team will remain be the Queen of Asia even though the JPN team sends its A team to the Asian Games, and even the bad OH WYL is still great at the Asian level) but that's all, at the World stage, the team under the current general is a bad team, uncompetitive squad!! Indeed there is no bad soldiers, only bad generals! I feel pity for all those good players that all their hard works and golden ages were wasted by bad leadership! For the sake of the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team CVA needs to have a new head coach within this current cycle, and revamp some members of the core NT, remove all the bad apples! I hope they don't wait further until the next debacle in Paris OG to take decision. I lose hope under the current general, the team will lose all the battles that really matter against any competent team even the relatively newcomer CAN -- even if the team eventually can make it to Paris OG by WR, under the current head coach, the team will be hopeless for any good result. Hopefully someone or more with authority will pay attention and makes the drastic adjustment to save the team at the World level, not being deceived or complacent by the almost certain good outcome at the Asian Games. Otherwise, the current cycle will be wasted one more time!


    I agree that WYL, ZH must go from the NT A, hopefully ZT will rejoin the team in 2024, and call in Zhuang Yushan ASAP. Try other setters if the current ones are not good enough. A new head coach right after the Asian Games, regardless the outcome! The team should be grander than merely being the Asian Queen!


    Btw, have idea who will be suitable to take the role as the NT head coach?

    The defeat against CAN is truly a defeat, just no excuse, this is OQT, not the grand training tournament VNL! Since the London OG defeat in QF to JPN, this loss against a CAN team is the worst defeat to date, to my knowledge. Just correct me if I'm wrong.


    The head coach had the most blame! WYL should not be played, she simply does not have the quality/capability/competency to face any serious team beyond the Asian Continent. Regardless all her efforts and hard works, sorry to say, forcing herself to play at the NT A facing strong European & American squads (yesterday CAN happened to place itself under this category, overall played well, thus it won) will just create sorrow and depressing situations, for all stakeholders incl. fans as well as her own self. It hurts so much to watch the main team be defeated by CAN, not a historically strong team with strong volleyball tradition. And resouces-wise the Chinese should have not lost on CAN, just put the right resources in the game!


    One silly case the coach pull out Ding Xia at the last min (set 3) then DLY set to LYY at middle back row instead of WMJ at #4... a fateful choice. If Ding Xia, who already helped to turn the table remained there, she might have set the decisive ball to WMJ.


    It's obvious that in facing an opponent that play well in overall, there can't be any weak element in the team, moreover a weak OH, the team will suffer the bad consequences. Watching WYL hit repeatedly just to be slowed down by the blocks were really painful... it's very obvious that WYL didn't possess the needed ingredient (whatever it was -- technical, physical, etc) to help the team.... she would merely pull down the team with her! A coach who was not able to identify this problem and made timely adjustment would bear the price!


    Nothing personal here, but WYL just does not belong to the NT A, esp. when the team is facing strong teams outside Asian rivals! She is not a real NT A material!!! I hope all stakeholders learn the bitter lessons. Otherwise there's no good prospect for the team. Competitions are very tough, many teams are growing fast, to live or to die -- to remain competitive or be a grand loser -- there is no leniency here, life incl. competitive sport is very real and very harsh, very rough, and could be quite cruel!!

    You mean Asia has 2 spots even no Asian team gets in the OQT? Still 2 spots if either Japan or China qualifies directly in OQT and there is still 1 spot for Asia from world rankings?

    The five remaining spots will be based on WR. But one spot will be allotted to the African team with the highest WR (i.e. Kenya) to safeguard Olympic motto, since no African team made it through the OQT. If the hearsay about the Russian team has some foundation then just three remaining spots based on WR. Believe the Chinese squad will still make it under the worst case scenario in this OQT. Japan too.