China's volleyball official admitted on Wednesday that the sport's governing body has committed a mistake by thinking that Chinese women's volleyballers are able to play until the age of 28, which led to a sharp plummet of the team's result in 2006.

Xu Li, director of the Volleyball Administrative Center of the State General Administration of Sports, said that the governing officials and the coaching staff, including himself, had all believed the Athens winning team could compete until the 2008 Beijing Games.

Feng Kun (L) and Zhao Ruirui, China's volley players and 2004 Athens Olympic gold winners leave for Chicago of the US for treatment January 25, 2007. [Sportsphoto.cn]

"But it proved a big mistake after a disappointing 2006, resulting in too many injuries and hence the unsatisfactory performance," Xu said. "It put a dent on the team's defending campaign towards the Beijing Olympics.

"Players from America or Europe could still stay in form until 28 or so, but the Chinese women's volleyballers might only hit the top gear between the age of 24 and 26 due to our training mode and the Asian physique," he added, noting that it is an idea accepted now by all specialists in the line.

Chinese women's team have retained the main line-up after the Athens Olympic victory, with starters Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong, Yang Hao, Liu Yanan and Zhang Na all above 26 in the year of 2008.

"We had planned to build up a stronger team in 2006, but now it is time to start from zero, so the team is facing an uphill task before 2008," Xu told Xinhua openly. "We need a younger squad for the Olympics."

The former honorary world champion really lost some of their stature, finishing both in a remote fifth place in the world championships and the final standings of the world Grand Prix in 2006.

Their Olympic defending road became rocky especially after they lost to powerhouses Russia, Italy and Brazil five times of all eight meetings apiece last year. China even lost to Germany and the Netherlands for the first time in history.

"The team have another problem strategically in 2006, putting too much stress on strength which is the advantage of the European and American teams and losing speed and agility we have had before," Xu added.

China has just named a new training list on Wednesday, with two under-20 new faces included to take the places of ailing Feng Kun and Song Nina, who was substitute to Feng at Athens in 2004.

Also on the injury list are former Chinese star Zhao Ruirui, curing her legs with Feng in the United States now and Olympic winner Zhang Ping.

The new team will leave for south China's Zhangzhou, Guangzhou and Binzhou for three-month long training sessions before competing in the Four Nations Tournament slated for late May at Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

Following is the name list of Chinese women's volleyball team for their upcoming training sessions:

Wei Qiuyue (18 years old), Han Xu (19), Zhou Suhong (27), Li Juan (24), Wang Yimei (19), Yang Hao (26), Zhang Yuehong (32), Sun Xiaoqing (22), Xu Yunli (19), Xue Ming (20), Liu Yanan (26), Ma Yunwen (20), Zhang Na (26), Zhang Xian (22)