Young Chinese men's volleyball team to go all out for Paris 2024 place

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's men's volleyball team is set to embark on its qualifying campaign for the 2024 Paris Olympics when the 2022 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) kicks off in June.

"Our only chance to qualify for Paris 2024 is to earn as many ranking points as possible in the next couple of events," China head coach Wu Sheng told Xinhua on Tuesday.

At Paris 2024, world rankings will play a bigger role in the definition of quotas, as a result of FIVB's change to the sport's Olympic qualification system.

As host nation, France is entitled to one quota for both men's and women's tournaments. For the remaining 11 quotas for each gender, six will be defined by three Olympic qualification tournaments, to be played in September and October 2023.

The three Olympic qualification tournaments will feature eight teams each - 24 total - defined by the FIVB rankings of September 12, 2022 (men) and October 17, 2022 (women). The top two teams in each tournament will qualify for Paris 2024. The five remaining Olympic places will be decided using the FIVB rankings in June 2024, prioritizing countries from continents that do not yet have qualified teams in the Olympic tournament.

China's national team is currently training in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, for the opening VNL game against Iran.

"We will try our best in the VNL and the World Championships so that we can earn enough points to qualify for the Olympic Qualification tournaments," said Wu.

Wu, who was appointed head coach of China's men's team in October 2020, has handpicked a young squad made up of players mainly born after 1999. Despite a lack of international experience, he is full of praise for his players' physical conditions.

"Our height is not inferior to that of the world's top teams, and many of our players have great bounce," Wu said.

"Zhang Jingyin, for instance, has a vertical jumping height of 3.70 meters."

"Unlike women's games, which focus more on tactics, the trend of men's volleyball lies in a higher, faster, more powerful and all-round attacking line," he added.

Wu said that after studies on other elite teams, the coaching staff found that improving the team's serving and receiving is the top priority for the Chinese team.

"One can only apply enough strength when he serves and receives right. We have been training our players with the help of additional equipment so that they learn and improve in real-time," said Wu.

Besides working on skills, another concern for Wu is the difficulty in knowing at what level China currently stands in the world after skipping many international events over the past two years due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, Wu is determined to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

"The players do well in training, and the young players like to play football and basketball in their spare time to reduce pressure. The goal of advancing to the Olympic qualifiers remains unchanged. We will try to seize this opportunity," Wu said.