China come home for 'three-peat'
attempt
 Macau,
China, July 22, 2005 - China's players feel they have home
advantage as they bid for a "three-peat" at the FIVB Girls'
Under 18 World Championship - even though the locals speak a
different dialect.
China won the 2001 event in Croatia and the 2003 edition in
Poland, and will be aiming for a straight hat trick of
titles when the 2005championship starts in Macau on
Saturday.
"We feel like we have come home," China's team manager, Yu
Guangyan, said on Friday. "The strongest point of our team
is our speed. We play the game at a fast pace."
Pic: FIVB vice
president Wei Jizhong (right)
When asked to identify China's main rivals, Yu said: "We
have not seen most of the other teams, but from our
experiences in the Asian Championship this year and the
World Championship two years ago, I would say that Russia,
Italy, Korea, Brazil and the USA are all very strong.
"This is a tournament for teenagers so we don't know what
will happen. All I can say is that China will do their best
to win again."
The last non-Asian team to win this event was Brazil in 1997
- and that was the last time it was held in Asia, in
Chiangmai, Thailand.
"We are training to be champions, but we cannot say we are
going to be champions because it is very difficult," said
Brazil's captain and setter, Betina Schmidt. "We have been
together for four months, since March, and the squad has
been reduced from 21 strong players to 12.
"Russia and China will be very hard, but I think there's
eight or 10 teams who will be really competitive."
Whether the teams here are old hands at this event, such as
Brazil, or newcomers such as Tunisia or Austria, FIVB vice
president Wei Jizhong gave them all inspiration at the
official press conference on Friday afternoon.
"All these young girls are the future of women's Volleyball,"
he said, to loud cheers from the assembled teams in the
theatre of the Macau East Asian Games Dome. "We will see
them in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, in the 2010 World
Championships and the 2012 London Olympics."
Wei's speech was in English, but to make sure the China team
got the message he then dispensed with the English-Cantonese
interpreters and translated his own words into Mandarin.
The action starts on Saturday morning, and seven games will
take place at two venues before the Opening Ceremony at the
Dome on Saturday evening. Immediately following that, China
will begin their defence of the title against Asian rivals
Korea in Pool B.
With the support of the Chinese people in this former
Portuguese enclave, China will be hoping their campaign
starts on a winning note. |
