Chinese girls look beyond Grand Prix to World Cup
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2003-07-19 16:28

The Chinese women's volleyball team looked beyond the upcoming 2003 World Grand Prix to a top three finish at the 2003 World Cup in November.

"We've got two jobs to do at the Grand Prix," The Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe told Xinhua on Saturday before leading his girls to attend the Grand Prix, which was slated for July 21- August 3 in Italy.

"The first is to further shape up the team and get prepared for the World Cup and the second is for me to observe some young players' performance," Chen said.

"The World Cup is the most important tournament for us this year and all we did before that is to get us best prepared for it, " he added.

Chen was confident that China would make top three in the World Cup and secure themselves a berth in the Athens Olympics volleyball tournament in 2004.

"We will strive for a medal in the World Cup and a ticket to the Athens Games. I am fully confident in our girls," said Chen, who has been with the women's national team for more than two decades and took over as head coach in 2001.

Chen made minor adjustments to the squad that won the Swiss International Tournament and finished runners-up to Russia at the Russian President Cup in June. Spikers Zhang Yuehong and Chen Jing replaced Zhang Jing and Liu Xiaojia and Libero Zhang Na replaced Li Ying.

"I made the changes because I wanted to give more players opportunities to show their abilities and I will see who are more suitable to play the World Cup."

Though Chen would not predict the results for Chinese girls at the Grand Prix, he mentioned several teams as their main opponents.

"There is no weak team at the Grand Prix and Russia, Italy, United States and Brazil are especially strong. We will take every game as a battle," Chen said.

The Chinese women have been working hard on defense and blocking, with which Chen was not so satisfied.

"We have been trying to improve our defense, especially blocking," Chen said. "Our blocking were not successful in the recent games against Russia."

China, who beat Russia in the Swiss International Tournament before losing to them in the President Cup final, will play Russia in the preliminary round of the Grand Prix.

"Russia put great pressure on us with their attacking and blocking, their players are more experienced than ours," Chen said.

"It is important for us to show our strength and perform to our best," he added. "Technically speaking, we should pay more attention to the time and rhythm of blocking."