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Olympic Outlook: Chinese Women Softball Strives for Medal
In the preparations for the Olympics, the Chinese women's softball team is easily neglected. But the team, which is quietly preparing for the Sydney Games in Beijing, have the task of bringing home a medal.
In Atlanta Games, the Chinese women's softball team lost to the hosts America and won the silver medal. This was their best showing in the Olympics. The Chinese women's teams have traditionally not fared well in the Olympics. Only the Chinese women's volleyball and basketball teams have won an Olympic gold before.
The Chinese women's softball team began training for Sydney Olympics last December. Captain of the team, Hu Jiashi, said, "In this Olympics, our goal is still to win a medal."
Hu said, to keep the team competitive and win a medal, the Chinese Softball Association specially recalled eight veterans from the last Olympics, including pitcher Wang Lihong, first baseman Wang Ying, second baseman Yan Fang, third baseman Tao Hua and outfielder Zhang Chunfang. Thus, there a good mix of old, prime and young on the team. During the training period, the team played three warm-up matches. The Chinese team won one, tied twice and lost nine times in twelve games with the Philippines men's team this February. In April, it placed third in the Sydney Invitational. In July it came in second behind Australia in the Canada Cup, which fielded sixteen countries including Australia, Japan, Cuba, and America, who will all be in the Olympics.
Hu said, "Our records in these games basically reflected the team's level. They allow us to see our strengths and weaknesses."
Hu considers it advantageous to the Chinese team to have more veteran players, who have played in more than one hundred matches. For example, in the Canada Cup semifinal with Japan, the players were not anxious when they fell behind 2-0. Veterans Tao Hua and Yan Fang scored and China went on to beat Japan 5-2. Also, the Chinese team has superior defense. The youngsters are gradually maturing. For example, the young pitcher Zhang Yanqing, has a good fastball and changeup.
But there are negative effects of having too many veterans on the team. Currently, the average age of the Chinese softball team is 27.5 years old. The team is an aging team and physical strength has been the biggest problem in the warm-up games. Hu also says that another disadvantage is that the overall pitching staff is not very strong. Although pitcher Wang Lihong has returned from Japan, she only rejoined the national team in May and is still adjusting. It is difficult to say whether she will be in peak condition. The younger pitchers lack experience in big games.
The Chinese team's the main opponents in the Olympics will be America, Australia and Japan. Hu Jiashi said, the Chinese team has faced the American team for four or five times since the last Olympics and never beaten them. The two teams haven't met in over a year. The Americans have eleven players left over from the Atlanta Games team and the will be stronger than the Chinese team. The Chinese team has lost to the Australian team more than they have beat them. As the host of the Olympics, Australia has the advantage in climate, geography and crowd support. It will be difficult for the Chinese team to beat them. Their old Asian foes the Japanese team is at about the same level as the Chinese team. The Chinese team must beat them to win a medal. Thus, it is very difficult for Chinese women's softball team to win a medal.
Still, the team is very confident that it can achieve their goal. Hu Jiashi said, "There are more than forty days left until the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We will use this time to adjust and train the team's mentality, tactics and physical strength so the team won't come back from Sydney empty handed."
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