China's hungry new breed of Olympic hopefuls have eyes on Paris prize

After completing a 50-day training camp in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, China's men's volleyball team on Tuesday set off for Brazil to compete in the 2022 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) where it hopes to take the first steps toward qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After missing out on most international competitions over the last two years due to the pandemic, the current Chinese roster is something of a mystery to the public, but the squad is clear in its goal.

"The team's top priority is to earn a ticket to Paris 2024," said captain Jiang Chuan.

Changes to the sport's Olympic qualification system mean world rankings will play a bigger role in determining the lineup for the Paris Games. So, acquiring ranking points will be crucial for the young squad over the next couple of events.

The average age of China's VNL squad is 25, including six players born in 1999 and three in 2000.

"Compared with the top-tier teams like Brazil, Serbia and Argentina, we are a very young and inexperienced team," said Jiang. "In men's volleyball, players tend to peak around 30 years old."

Despite a lack of international experience, Jiang says a surge of young talent has triggered healthy competition among the Chinese players.

"Playing in high-level games can enrich their experience," said Jiang. "The more they encounter a situation, the more confident they will be next time they deal with the same situation."

Having joined the national team in 2016, the 27-year-old Jiang has taken it upon himself to mentor the young players.

"I don't want them to go down a winding road in their development. I want to provide them with shortcuts that are based on my own experience, so they can improve quicker," he said.

Jiang also serves as a link between head coach Wu Sheng and the youngsters.

"Coach Wu is very strict and some young players can be afraid to speak their minds, so I can help them communicate better," Jiang said. "For instance, if the young players feel fatigued, I might suggest the coach switches a training session to video analysis."

Team China last competed on the international stage at the 2021 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship, where it took home the bronze medal. Jiang was encouraged by that result, but is keen for the team to keep pushing forward.

"We are narrowing the gap to the top Asian teams, but it's difficult to know how we rate among the world's best teams," he said. "We have been preparing by watching other teams' highlights, and we will examine ourselves in the games.

"We will try our best to beat our Asian rivals in the first round in Brazil, and we will go all out to compete with the South American and European teams to gain confidence," added Jiang, whose team opens its VNL campaign against Iran on June 8 in Brasilia, followed by games against Japan, Slovenia and the host, before the tournament moves on to the Philippines.

Jiang is urging the squad to keep a positive mindset from the off.

"We gradually lost our confidence in straight losses at previous editions of the VNL. This time, we will start off with full confidence, otherwise we will be playing into their hands once again," he said.

As for his personal goals, Jiang harbors ambitions of one day playing in more competitive overseas leagues, but for now is concentrating on helping the national team earn an Olympic berth. "I have never thought about how far my career might go on for, but I will play as long as the national team needs me," he said.

The 2022 VNL takes place in Canada, Brazil, the Philippines, and Bulgaria from June 8 until July 24.

Xinhua