Lang Ping, head coach of China's women's national volleyball team. /VCG
Lang Ping, head coach of China's women's national volleyball team, confirmed that she will retire after the Summer Olympics in Tokyo next year in an interview with CGTN's Sports Scene on Saturday.
"I haven't considered changing my decision," said Lang. "Currently we just need to focus on training and preparing for the Olympics next year. We keep telling ourselves that it (the Olympics) will happen next year."
The Summer Olympic Games were scheduled for July this year in Tokyo but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to be postponed by a year. Therefore, Lang extended her contract by another year to continue to coach the Chinese national team.
Lang Ping (r), head coach of China's women's national volleyball team, holds the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup Championship Trophy with Zhu Ting in Osaka, Japan September 29, 2019. /VCG
Back in 2013, Lang took the job for a second time in her career. Two years later, she led the team to overcome a series of difficulties to win the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup in Japan, becoming the world champions again. Then in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, China defeated Serbia 3-1 in the final, pocketing the Olympic gold medal after 12 years. In the Women's World Cup last year in Japan, the team defended their title with perfect 11 wins.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all volleyball events in the first half of the year remain cancelled. As a result, Lang led her players to train and practice for over four months in a closed environment until late June. The girls were given two weeks to rest and adjust themselves. The next round of training is about to start next week. Compared to the last round, more new blood is expected to attend the training camp this time.
Brazil celebrate after defeating Dominican Republic in the Olympic Qualification Tournament at the Sabiazinho Arena in Uberlandia, Brazill August 3, 2019. /VCG
Meanwhile, one traditional strong team in the world of women's volleyball, Brazil had some bad news. The Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV) this week decided to cancel all training camps for the national team because of the deteriorating pandemic situation all over the country. Considering that the team was already plagued by problems like aging and lack of stamina, being unable to train systematically together will not help their chances in Tokyo in 2021.
By contrast, China's neighbor Japan announced that the women's national team will assemble and start a 50-day-long training camp from July 6. Japan as the host is in Group A with Brazil. The advantage of playing on home turf and the fact that a major rival may lack enough training can give Japan a good reason to be ambitious.