Big comeback revives Games hope

China's volleyball team captain Zhou Suhong (left) and Xu Yunli celebrate with the silver trophy of the FIVB World Grand Prix Finals on Sunday in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. New bloods like Xu performed impressively during the six-team tournament to raise hopes they can defend the Olympic gold medal on home soil in Beijing. Xinhua

But now hope has descended again after the squad launched a remarkable return to form to clinch second place with four-straight wins in the following days including convincing three-set sweeps against powerhouses Russia and Brazil.

The return of confidence and the scintillating form of teenage team members bode well ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where China hopes not to disappoint as defending champion in front of a home crowd.

"All the players played their matches in the following games and improved a lot," head coach Chen Zhonghe said.

"The biggest benefit we had from the tournament is how the young players got disciplined and made progress.

"We had a number of tough matches and sometimes had to play the fifth set under great pressure.

"Our players got it though and I am confident we will move up to another level next year."

Struggling with injury and the inconsistency of newcomers after the 2004 Athens Games, the team suffered a string of losses to lowly ranked teams during the Grand Prix preliminary rounds and came into the Finals sitting in eighth place.

But ultimately it had to be satisfied with silver after sweeping three-time defending champion Brazil in the last match of the tournament on Sunday evening.

After the opening loss to the Netherlands, China scored four wins in a row to take the silver medal.

"We did not perform to expectation during the preliminary rounds. Everyone was under pressure," Chen said.

"We have so many young girls and also some of the veterans were hit by illness or injury.

"But our players came back in time and showed good teamwork in the finals."

Climb from the bottom

Chen said he was delighted with the way his charges clawed their way back to form match by match.

China lost the life-or-death fifth set in the first game against the Netherlands but dug the heels in to win subsequent deciders.

"We lost the first match and then were forced to play the fifth set in the second and third matches against Poland and Italy," Chen said.

But three five-set marathons in three days failed to slow them up and only brought out the best in China's defense.

"After ups and downs, we showed the best defense and block in the last two games over the past two years," Chen said.

"I'm so pleased that we can beat all the difficulties and play better match after match.

"After big tests, I am sure we will play a much better teamwork in the future and more importantly, we will not fear anything in front of tough times any more."

The future appears bright after several youngsters defied their tenders years.

Zhang Xian, 22, at 1.67m the shortest player ever called up by coach Chen, won the award for Best Libero while Wei Qiuyue, 20, was recognized as the Best Setter.

Teenage spiker Xue Ming, playing as a replacement for injury-plagued Zhao Ruirui, fulfilled her potential above the net with formidable volleys and blocks.

Rising rival

Grand Prix winner the Netherlands has shattered the status quo ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

The orange-clad Europeans held off a strong surge from Russia to take victory, becoming the sixth team to win the title and the first Dutch women to win a major international competition.

"The Netherlands has emerged as another strong challenger and we have to take them seriously in the future," Chen said.

"But we can not judge them as the top team from only one tournament. There are powerhouses like Italy and Brazil still standing in the way."

China actually had not won against Italy and Brazil in the past year before the latest victories in Ningbo.

The Brazilians, who entered the finals as top favorites with the best results in the preliminaries, finished a disappointing fifth after dropping the last four of five matches, thanks to a better win-loss ratio against Poland.

Italy and Russia were both on a 2-3 record while the Italians ranked third above the world champions with a better points win-loss ratio.

FIVB Vice President Wei Jizhong also played down the Netherlands' strong emergence and China's remarkable comeback by insisting Italy, Brazil and Russia were still the best teams.

"I think Italy, Brazil and Russia are still the top teams in the world while Cuba, USA, China and other teams in this tournament are the second best group," he said.

"The Grand Prix Finals results cannot tell everything. Some of best players did not come to compete this time. You know, in volleyball, one person is able to overturn."

(China Daily 08/29/2007 page22)