News

Beijing, China, April 30, 2005 ― The Chinese women’s national Volleyball team will begin its 2005 season with a busy and tight competition schedule, starting in May and lasting to November, it was announced here by China Volleyball Association.

The series starts on May 24 when the Chinese team will take part in the China International Master Tournament in China’s Southeastern city of Ningbo, which will draw six other teams from Cuba, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Japan, Poland and Dominican Republic. The participating teams will compete from May 24-28 in two Preliminary Round pools with China, Japan, Poland and Dominican Republic in Pool A and the other teams in Pool B.
Pic: China on their way to gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens
This is the first international competition for the newly formed Chinese team coached by Chen Zhonghe, who led the team to gold at the 2004 Olympic Games, after almost three-month’s hard training.

The seven teams are to move to Dalian, a beautiful coastal city in Northeastern China for the tournament’s second leg from May 30-June 3.

Then the number one team on the FIVB world rankings will appear in the 2005 World Grand Prix and compete in three preliminary legs, in Ningbo, China (June 24-26) , Macao (July 1-3) and Hong Kong (July 8-10).

The Chinese team comes into the World Grand Prix full of confidence following their gold medal performance in Athens. As Olympic and Asian Champions and World Cup holders, the Chinese players are near certainties to book a berth in the finals in Japan.

From August 3-8, China will then return to Ningbo for a 2006 World Volleyball Championship tournament for which Zhonghe has noted they must try their utmost to win as the World Championship is the first step for China to regain the glory days of the 1980s, when they dominated the sport by winning two World Championships, the 1984 Olympic Games and two World Cups.

China’s target is now to win three more major world Volleyball tournaments, namely the 2006 World Championships, the 2007 World Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics following title wins at the 2003 World Cup and the 2004 Olympic Games.

The Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship will take place in China from August 31-September 8. As defending champion, the Chinese Volleyball Association is already aiming for a repeat in order to confirm a spot as Asian champion at the 2005 World Grand Champions Cup, which will be held from November 15-20 in Japan.

Zhonghe has indicated that all the competitions in 2005 are a great test for the newly-formed Chinese team and he hoped that the schedule will give his players a good chance to get to know each other, especially the younger players, and to improve their experience etc.