The Chinese national team has finished the FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League with a 3-9 record. Head coach Wu Sheng rated the franchise's performance as "qualified."

Wu revealed that the team set two goals for the Nations League. One was to raise their world ranking and the other to avoid relegation. China achieved both, watching their world ranking rise from 23rd to 19th.

China's biggest highlight during the Nations League was the 3-0 win over Brazil on June 12. In fact, Wu believes his team had the chance to defeat other strong opponents like Japan, Iran or Argentina. They were led for a long time in the game against Poland but lost in the end after being outmatched in first pass.

Chinese players hadn't played in any international tournaments for a long time before the Nations League. In fact, most of them participated in the Nations League for the first time as well. "We will play better next year," Wu said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

The 12 games China played during the Nations League gave the coaching staff and players confidence and enabled Wu to see potential in the team. Moreover, it was very helpful for their preparations for the coming FIVB Volleyball World Championship in August and September.

"Now we have a primary knowledge of the teams around the world," Wu told Xinhua. "It's a learning process for me to coach the team at the Asian tournament last year and the world tournament this year. Our training methods can take some improving. There is a big difference between Asian and European opponents in terms of the intensity of the game, size of the players and their control of the ball."

Wu praised the Chinese national team, but also pointed out the gap between them and the powerhouses in the world. For example, in the game against Poland, all of their serves were jumper serves, which can be as fast as 120 kilometers per hour. Such style of playing will place great pressure on Chinese players from the beginning.

The coach was also exploring defensive changes Chinese players have to make to match European opponents. "We have size advantage against Asian opponents, so we pursue quickness in blocking and don't pay enough attention to power," Wu said. "We are outsized by European opponents, so we must change on defense."

China lacked several key players in the Nations League because of COVID-19, which hurt the team's bench length. Dai Qingyao, Zhang Zhejia, Qu Zongshuai and Wang Bin will join the national team to prepare for the World Championship. They will spend about 20 days training in Serbia after the Nations League. After that, the team will participate in the Asian Volleyball Cup in August before going to Serbia again for the last training sessions before the World Championship.