On February 22, in the 22nd round of the second phase of the 2023-2024 China Men's Volleyball Super League, the Tianjin Food Group men's volleyball team defeated the Jiangsu men's volleyball team 3-0 (25-20) at home, completing the "double kill" against the Jiangsu team in the quarterfinals round-robin stage, and also achieving five consecutive wins in the volleyball Super League for the third time this season.
On February 22, the Chinese women's volleyball team has officially started training preparations for the Olympic year, but Zhu Ting's failure to be selected is still an unavoidable topic, considering that this year is already an Olympic year, Zhu Ting still has not entered the first training list, which can't help but make people doubt whether she can return to the Chinese women's volleyball team.
At present, Zhu Ting is still competing in Serie A and the Champions League with the Scandicci women's volleyball team, compared with last season, Zhu Ting has played more time this season and her performance is more stable, however, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency before the Spring Festival, Zhu Ting is still a little dissatisfied with her physical condition.
Regarding Zhu Ting's topic, Cai Bin's attitude of guidance is still to respect Zhu Ting's choice.
According to the experience of the previous two years, the 23-member squad of the Chinese women's volleyball team to participate in the World Women's Volleyball League is usually the list of the first training camp, but this year's first training list of the Chinese women's volleyball team is only 22 players, and the team may be supplemented when signing up for the World Women's Volleyball League, which also retains a first-line opportunity for the players who were not selected for the training list, including Zhu Ting.
However, even if she enters the registration list, Zhu Ting, who has just finished the club competition, will most likely have to take a period of rest, plus she has never had a run-in with the team in the Paris Olympic cycle, and the probability of airborne landing is not large.
Similar to previous years, after the Lunar New Year, the Chinese women's volleyball team regrouped and devoted itself to another year of training and competition.
Due to the failure to qualify for the Olympic qualifying tournament at the first time, the Chinese women's volleyball team still needs to maintain the existing FIVB world ranking in order to get the ticket to the Paris Olympics.
However, failing to qualify for the Olympics in the first place will still have an impact on the team's preparation. In order to stabilize their world ranking and retain their Olympic qualifications, the Chinese women's volleyball team does not have much room for trial and error, which will reduce the opportunities for young players who have been shortlisted for this year's training camp to improve through international competitions. Under the pressure of results, the team will have a lot less opportunities to scout young players and even hone their tactical play.
Judging from the schedule of the World League, the Chinese women's volleyball team is not easy at every stop. For example, in the first week of the Rio de Janeiro station in Brazil, the first game faced the South Korean women's volleyball team, whose strength was seriously declining, and the Chinese women's volleyball team could not afford to lose, otherwise the points would face the danger of declining. After that, the United States and Serbia are traditional powerhouses, and the Canadian team is one of the potential Olympic qualification competitors of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
In the second week, the Chinese women's volleyball team participated in the Macau, China, the Netherlands, Japan, Thailand and Italy four opponents did not qualify for the Olympics, and the intensity of the competition this week can be imagined.
In the third week of the competition, the Chinese women's volleyball team competed in Hong Kong, China, and among the four opponents, the Bulgarian and German women's volleyball teams failed to qualify for the Olympics, but the points gap was large, and the possibility of impacting the Olympics was not high. And the Turkish and Polish women's volleyball teams are the real test for the Chinese women's volleyball team.
This year's World Women's Volleyball League is not only a position for the Chinese women's volleyball team to keep its points ranking and thus maintain its Olympic qualifications, but also a rare opportunity to run in and train before the Olympic Games. The results of more than 80 days of intensive training will be fully tested in the World League.