Coach: New generation's technique far behind

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-02 11:40

Coach: New generation's technique far behind

Chinese women's volleyball coach, Wang Baoquan (2nd L), speaks to players while his daughter Wang Qian (3rd L) listens on during the invitational volleyball tournament in Luohe, central China's Henan province, May 29, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China women's volleyball team head coach has admitted the new generation of players are lagging far behind their Olympic-winning predecessors.

Wang Baoquan, who took over the squad three months ago and was expected to lead the struggling side back to its former glory, failed to deliver in his first assignment at an invitational tournament in Henan over the weekend.

Although Wang spent most of the build-up working on the players' first passes and defense during a two-month training camp, those areas still remain the weakest points of the team.

"The essential techniques of the young players are inferior to the previous generation. These youngsters have trained very hard but this tournament has shown it will take a long time for them to improve and stabilize their skills in a match situation," Wang said.

"Accurate first passes and defense are the hallmarks of the Chinese team. If we want to return to the peak, we must get those techniques back."

Wang, who has led Tianjin to seven titles in the domestic league, was named the head coach after a year of disappointing performances, including losing to Thailand for the first time in the final of last year's Asian Championship.

In Henan, after fighting hard to edge out Turkey, China were upset by unfancied Dominica Republic, a country China had never previously lost to.

After the 2008 Olympic Games, all the players of the "golden generation", which steered China to the top podium at the 2004 Athens Games, retired, leaving a younger generation to carry on a great legacy.

Of some comfort to the coach is the emergence of teenage spiker Hui Ruoqi.

The 19-year-old, who stands 190cm, showed impressive form as she was the team's leading scorer in all three matches of the tournament.

"Despite her youth, she was very mature on the court and showed what she has acquired from training," Wang said.