Posts by Julian Chow

Quote from samsara

Some beautiful pictures of Miao Yiwen 缪伊雯, a new star of the Sichuan Women's Volleyball Team

Miao Yiwen, A New Star of the Sichuan Women's Volleyball Team (2020-11-28)

四川女排新星——小美女缪伊雯

https://bbs.hupu.com/39489305.html

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samsara

Nice ! Attractive young lady. Can hit the ball quite hard too. I noticed she has quite sharp features, especially her nose ...hehe.... It’s interesting, many years ago I visited the mountainous regions of Sichuan and met with a minority community called Qiang.

（羌族）They all had sharp noses too ! Maybe, Miao is part Qiang

Quote from samsara

At this very moment.... I just wanna watch Miao Yiwen of the Sichuan team playing, never see a match of this young cutie

For the ice-breaking May Day match, I hope some widely accessible live will be provided by either party.

For the VNL, thanks God that FIVB Volleyball TV is quite sensible to provide gratis quality coverage in this difficult persistent pandemic era!

For the Summer OG Hopefully IOC and the abundant NBC will also be more sensible taking account into this matter with their copyleft hubris in the OG broadcast and coverage... in particular since the no-precedence of no foreign visitors are allowed to come to watch. Let's all hope the sensibility will prevail over the extreme greed in this interesting times...

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I haven't seen too much of Miao...any links to good quality clips/videos of matches in which she features ? Thanks

How about they show something on satellite TV....all I’m getting nowadays is football...I think you guys call it soccer in N America

Quote from samsara

It happened that the National Games Preliminary round still has the 9-12 qualifying matches, involving teams like Beijing, Fujian, etc, and this will last until 22 April. That's why players like Liu XT, Zheng YX, Lin Li are absent from the NT camp as they need to play with the local teams, there's possibility that they may rejoin the NT training after these matches.

poor Macau will have to endure further beatings

Quote from samsara

On the afternoon of April 14, Chinese women's volleyball team, players and coaching team including head coach Lang Ping arrived at the National Ningbo Beilun Sports Training Base in batches, the team would have a quick training before the test match in Tokyo.

Lang Ping: “It's an especially beautiful Sports Hotel. It's very comfortable and bright. I think it's more fun for athletes to stay in this enclosure.”

Arrived at the newly renovated sports hotel, Lang Ping was impressed by the comfort of the environment, attracted by the excellent accommodation facilities and attentive service, and she has full of praises.

The team return to Beilun again after one and a half years when completed the Tokyo Olympic qualifying competition in Beilun in August 2019. Lang Ping is also full of expectations for this training. "It's the third phase of our closed training for the Olympic Games, so I'm very happy to be back in Beilun again."

Lang Ping said that the training in Beilun is the last quick stage before the Olympic Games for the team, and they will use eight days to do a quick recovery and cooperation before going to Japan to participate in the Olympic test matches and compete with the Japanese team at the Olympic venues.

In order to ensure the training, Beilun has done a lot of preparatory work.

• Training facilities and equipment are in place, and all kinds of training equipment are prepared in an orderly manner;
• With the renovation of the sports hotel, its facilities, layout, function and reception capacity have been improved more reasonably, which is more in line with the accommodation requirements of the Chinese women's volleyball team;
• In terms of personnel service guarantee, special personnel are assigned to be responsible for training, accommodation, catering and other matters, so as to ensure that the Chinese women's volleyball team can train at ease, live a comfortable life and gain the best training results during the training period in Beilun.

It is understood that after the test match in Japan, the team will return to Beilun for closed training, and then go to Italy to participate in the VNL. By competing with the top 16 teams in the world, the team will have a big on-match training before the Tokyo Olympic Games.

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The floor of the bedroom looks unfinished and the ceiling looks kinda low...especially for Yuan, who with 2 inch heels and hair tied into a bun might reach 7 feet ! The King size beds should be comfortable for everyone, eventhough Yuan’s toes might still be sticking out

With regards to selection of the Olympic squad, my feeling is that 7 players are more or less confirmed barring unforeseen circumstances such as last minute injuries.

(OH & OP) Zhu Ting, Li YY, Zhang CN and Gong XY

(MB) Yuan XY, Yan Ni

(S) Ding Xia

(L) Wang MJ

2 more spots will likely go to Wang YY (MB) and Yao Di (S)

And the remaining 3 spots could go to Liu YH (OH), Wang YJ (OH)

Nee FF (L)

I further believe that the selectors should also look at the following players with potential to replace some of the above, where appropriate. Perhaps they should be given a chance to play in the VNL to test their form.

(OH & OP) Li Yao and Chen Peiyan (Guangdong), Qian Jingwen and Du Qing Qing (Shandong) Chen Boya (Tianjin)

- In recent matches, Chen seems to have overshadowed Li as the main attacker, in the Guangdong team. Qian and Du form the bedrock of the Shandong attack which has done well in recent tournaments. Du used to have this awkward hitting style, often compounded by wrong timing. I think she has improved and even can hit harder now compared to the 70+ kmh before. Chen Boya is like an uncut diamond. No updated stats are available, but I believe she has a striking reach of around 320cm (estimated visually) and this is a big asset. And by the way, the only reason I’ve included Liu YH in the list of possibilities above, is that she used to be quite a strong spiker. We all haven’t seen her for more than a year. Hopefully, that’s still the case.

(MB) Guo Huizhen (Shandong) ...I’m hearing gasps of disbelief here, surprises and even shocks. But let’s go back to the CVL round of 6 when highly rated Jiangsu faced Guangdong with Guo on loan from Shandong. Attacks by their imports Kelsey and Raba and solid blocking by Guo dismantled the Jiangsu team, which was left shell shocked and their coach, befuddled. Of similar size and height to Yan Ni, she also is quite flexible, have a good reach and can hit quite hard, unlike some tall MBs such as Wang Yuanyuan, Gaoyi and Yang Hanyu, who more often then not, go tap tap tap.

Of course any comparison with Yan Ni has to be limited to size and potentials, for now because, Yan has the experience, quick reflexes and that uncanny intuition to predict where the opposition will strike. It is for this reason and the fact that Yan Ni always seem so enthusiastic, giving encouragements and calming down the team when stressed, that ensures her a spot in the team eventhough she’s carrying some injuries.

(Setters)

Mei Xiaohan (Shandong). The reason why Mei is here is because I have doubts about Yaodi. Yes, she looks good most of the time, but could this be because her attackers Li Yingying and Zhu Ting are skillful enough to make allowances and adjustments to still make a good hit from a poor set ?

And what about Diao Linyu....as unpredictable as the weather, I’m afraid. Too risky to be included in the team.

But good luck to the Olympic squad, as individuals, they may have flaws or shortcomings, but as a team, they are hard to beat

I suspect that China will send a ‘watered down’ A team, that nevertheless will include Zhu Ting. For test events like this one, the host nation would normally invite the top ranked athlete or team to attend. There is an assumption that feedbacks from these athletes and officials will be beneficial. There is also pride and publicity considerations, especially in these uncertain times. Japan wants to project, a safe and secure environment for the games and getting a nod and a thumbs up from someone like Zhu Ting helps. Another thing, I do believe we shouldn’t underestimate the strength of the Japanese team, especially since they are the hosts. I heard that Mayu Ishikawa has transformed into a really good spiker, much like her famous brother.

Quote from bumpsetspike

Liu Xiaotong's performance recently hasn't been convincing. She still looks to be in bad shape. Liu Yanhan might not be in a good terms as well since it looked like she left training earlier that the others.

Li Yao could be a surprise, but we still have to wait and see how she does at VNL if she makes the roster.

Was hoping Xu Ruoya got a call after the season ended, but she didn't. If roster size wasn't limited I would like to see Chen Boya and possibly Chen Peiyan get a call for training for VNL.

Gao Yi could move up in the middle blocker rankings. Not only does she have the height, but she's made more improvements than Yang Hanyu in my opinion.

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I can’t for the life of me understand how Liu XT can remain in the NT. In her prime she was a strong hitter and had a reasonably good jump serve. As a reserve player in Rio 2016, she replaced out of form players in some matches and did a good job. For that, the national team, the nation and all her fans are eternally grateful. But then, she went into a steady decline. Her spiking now lacked power, her jump serve, a low percentage weapon in the best of times got picked up easily. Her receiving was no better. It was sad to watch.

Quote from sitenoise

Yeah. Ya know, I did it. I rewatched their match against Jiangsu It's painful but so endearing. Their technical level is about that of a mediocre Japanese high school team. It really is, I guess, about resources and coaching (and time together). I'll watch it again, and I'd watch anything I can find with them. I'm going to have to figure out how to navigate that bilibili site. I bet they got something there in the cupboard.

After that Macau/Leong On Ieng video played this little love poem to Yan Ni came up next in the queue. It's beautiful. Cute song

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You know when Yan Ni decides to retire, tears will flow, like it did when tennis player Li Na gave her retirement speech

Scores for the last day of competition - 13 Apr

(Source: Weibo)

Sichuan 3-0 Macau. 25-17, 25-22, 25-12

Jiangsu 3-0 Henan 25-12, 25-21, 26-24

Liaoning 3-0 Hebei 25-20, 25-15, 25-15

Beijing 3-0 Fujian. 25-17, 25-19, 25-15

Tianjin 3-0 Guangdong 25-21, 25-22, 25-14

Shandong 3-0 Shanghai 25-20, 25-18, 25-17

sitenoise ... They tried, they came up short, but that’s okay, they’ll be back, bigger and stronger and ready to face anyone.

There is live action... Tianjin. Vs. Guangdong..

I’m disappointed, Guangdong offered no resistance at all with poor receiving, setting and hitting.

Quote from zhutingfan

To make things more competitive I suppose. I wish there was a rationale though.

There could also be a national agenda behind this....

Quote from bumpsetspike

In the Tianjin vs Beijing match Chen Boya seems to have better reception/defense while Wang Yizhu has better offense. Chen also seems more suitable as opposite since her offense at that position is more effective.

Beijing needs to start developing youth. They relied on Liu Xiaotong/Zeng Chunlei for a long time and also relied on foreigners during the league that their bench doesn't have the depth to compete domestically anymore.

Bringing in the foreigners made the league more competitive and 'attractive' ...when Shanghai brought in Kim, interest in the league went up three notches ! local players also benefitted by getting exposed to the power hitting of the imports. When Zhu was away in Turkey, the strongest hitter was arguably Rachel Rourke of Beijing.

But there must a balance, local players must be continually developed and where appropriate, allowed to compete. One player who could've done better is Jin Ye. She has a good reach, but her striking style is somewhat unconventional and lacking in direction. Injuries compounded her problems. She hasn't improved even after several years with Beijing and remains a backup player.

Quote from zhutingfan

They kept bringing in other players (remember the transfer of Ding Xia and Wang Mengjie) and their own young players got dispirited. The first thing they should replace is management/coach... add in the retirement of Zeng Chunlei and Liu Xiaotong's age and this is the expected result.

A valid point !

Quote from samsara

The Top-8 list officially released!

On April 12, the 6th round of the preliminary stage of the National Games ended, and the Top-8 teams were released one round ahead of schedule, covering the teams from Jiangsu, Henan, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong and Shandong.

THE EIGHT TEAMS will compete in the FINALS in SEPTEMBER 2021 to fight for the championship. Although there is still one last round left in the preliminary stage, the results of the last match will not have a real impact on each team, at most affecting the final group ranking.

IN GROUP A, the Jiangsu team is the only one who has won 5 consecutive victories and accumulated 15 points. In each match, they swept the opponent 3-0, showing the temperament of the defending champion. The last round will be against the Henan team, and the Jiangsu team may probably send substitutes to play.

If you want to see the confrontation between Zhu Ting and Zhang Changning, it is difficult to achieve that in the preliminary stage. After all, each team will let the main players rest. The Henan and Zhejiang teams followed the Jiangsu team to advance to the finals two rounds ahead of schedule. With the strong support of Zhu Ting, Henan team entered the finals of the National Games again AFTER 12 YEARS. Zhu Ting averaged about 30 points per match, and her offensive and defensive ability has been reaching the peak state of her career. She is the biggest contributor to the Henan team's promotion to the championship.

Liaoning team is relatively slow, it took the team until the end of the 6th round to determine its advancement into the finals stage. It's mainly due to the Hebei team also had the possibility to advance to the competition theoretically, but after defeat in the 6th round, Hebei team completely missed the finals.

However, many aspects of Liaoning team are worthy of reflection, especially the surprise loss to Henan team in the second round, which indicates that they have big problems in the offensive end and the first pass defense. If they take part in the finals in such a state, the team will be difficult to get into the Top Six. Fortunately, Liu Yanhan will join Liaoning team in the finals stage, which will certainly increase the offensive firepower of the team and solve the problem of offensive end.

GROUP B is dominated by Tianjin team, which is the same as Jiangsu team as the favorite to win the National Games. However, Tianjin team did not win smoothly. In the third round, they fought hard against Shandong team and won the match narrowly in five sets. The cooperation between the main setter Yao Di and Yuan Xinyue needs to be improved, and the firepower of No. 2 position is basically zero. In addition, the passing ability of their libero, Meng Zixuan, is not so good. Tianjin team needs to strengthen both ends of the offense and defense, otherwise in facing the Jiangsu team they may have less chance. With Fujian team suffered defeat in the sixth round, both Guangdong and Shanghai teams qualified for the finals at the same time. GUANGDONG TEAM entered the final stage of the National Games again AFTER 56 YEARS, and the rising trend is very obvious.

Of course, this year's competition also have miserable teams. Beijing team, as the third place in the last National Games, directly missed the top eight in the current National Games. The team's performance plummeted, and it is difficult for them to return to the strong team in the Paris cycle. There are two teams with still zero points, which are Macau and Yunnan teams. The Macau team is a temporary one for participating in the competition, the result is not important to them. Yunnan team had a poor grouping, directly placed in the group of death, suffered six consecutive losses to end their journey in the preliminary round of the National Games.

Tencent News 12 April 2021

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IMO Jiangsu have yet to meet a strong side, and it’ll be interesting to see how they fare in September.

Quote from sitenoise

that was just target practice for Jiangsu

I can download it now. It must have just been in that transition phase from live to stored.

Every dig Macau made was a show stopper. I will cherish this. I don't mind the bullying.

I will die if they show a match with real camera work so I can see faces instead of just bodies flailing about

I'd like to see some of the "big" teams in this tournament take a 25–5 smack down, two sets in a row. See how well they handle it

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I’m proud of them, they’re small in stature but they have big hearts. Two or three big blocks in the third set showed they are no pushovers. Yes, Jiangsu rested their first team but their reserves are also very skillful, especially Wu Han who was merciless in her attack.

Quote from zhutingfan

I agree, there are too many competitors.

Yang was once MPV in a junior world championships, problem is that she hardly improved since then

Quote from sitenoise

I know it's maybe superficial, but when the camera zooms in on the MB through the net , when she has her arms in the air, barking orders out of the side of her mouth, waiting for a team mate to serve ... the four shadows I'm talking about all look like they own the team. I'm not getting that vibe from the youngin's yet.

Yan Ni is like Kim YK or Wilavan...they direct operations, calm things down and encourage their team mates. They are an important asset for the team.

Quote from sitenoise

none of my arsenal of download tools can grab that I'll watch what I can before falling asleep. It's after 1:00, I'm up at 6:00. I hope it will still be there tomorrow. thank you!

San Francisco ? Lolsss

Quote from sitenoise

Of the 12 players I added to volleybox, #12 Chao Ka Man was the only one I couldn't find a wallpaper picture for. Now she has this:

Their expressions say it all....

The big one is thinking: “ Ho Hum, I have to do this all the time, Why me? Why me?

The little one is thinking: “ I’m truly blessed to be given this opportunity, I think I’m the chosen one. I shall cherish this moment forever. Thank you “

❤️ Zhu Ting, she’s made so many people so happy.