AVC Cup for Women a stepping stone for young talents

The 5th AVC Cup for Women, which will take place at the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium in Vietnam from September 14 to 20, sees top eight teams from the last year’s Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship in Tianjin, China vie for the top honour.

However, after the 31st Olympic Games came to a close on August 21 which saw Asian powerhouses China capture their third Olympic title in Rio de Janeiro, several veterans and senior players called it a day from their national teams. Consequently, it’s time for potential teams to blood new talents with an eye on giving them chances to sharpen their expertise to become the backbones of the teams in the near future.

This is the reason why most of the participating teams in the AVC Cup for Women are sending their young stars to gain valuable experience and exposure for future successes of the teams.

During the Monday’s preliminary inquiry of all participating teams at the Song Hong Thu Do Hotel, all head coaches from eight participating teams gave AVC a brief interview to talk about their teams’ preparation and expectation in the one-week tournament.

Bao Zhuang, assistant coach of China, speaking on behalf of head coach Chen Youquan
“We have been training for one month in preparation for this tournament. We trained hard just to boost our confidence for every match we will play here. Two players from the Rio Olympic champions China team have joined us this time, Zhang Changning and Gong Xiangyu. We hope to go for the best here. We have a tough draw in Pool B and we have to take on Korea in our opening match on Wednesday. However, I have never thought that only Korea are likely to challenge us seriously. All opponents are also looking forward to fighting all-out against us. Therefore, we always pay attention to all our rivals. We will try our best here and we aim for a place in the final.”

Lee Jungchul, head coach of Korea
“We are sending here a young team with only three players competing professionally. We had a short time to practise. Most of my players are very young and they took part in Asian U17 Championship, no other major international competitions. That’s why we just aim that our young players will learn more tactics and techniques against strong teams here,” said Lee through interpreter and team manager Shin Bomi.

“Against China on our first match, I admit that they are much taller and stronger than us. It’s very difficult to beat them, but we just try to do our best.”

Kiyoshi Abo, head coach of Japan, who steered the Japan’s team to the second-place finish at the recent Asian Women’s U19 Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand,
“We are ready to start our first match here. We trained just two weeks in preparation for this tournament. There is only one senior Japanese team player to join us this time, while the rest are very young. I just hope that they will have a bright future prospect. NEC Red Rockets won the Asian Women’s Club Championship in the Philippines, but none of them joined us here for the AVC Cup. It’s just because they are from the club team,but here it’s national team. Against Kazakhstan in our first match, I admit that they are very tall with high blocks. Their spikes are also powerful. Our players are not that tall, but we will try to do our best on good defence.”

Danai Sriwacharamethakul, head coach of Thailand
“We trained well, with senior players assembling for intensive training ahead of our arrival here. The other four key players who contested the Asian Women’s Club Championship in the Philippines are leaving Manila to join our team’s training on Tuesday,” said Danai, who was in place of well-known Thailand’s head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, who stepped down from coaching the Thailand national team two months ago.

“Our initial target is to finish among top three in the AVC Cup because the tournament will help increase capacity for our players. Young players will also stand a chance to obtain competition experience. Against Chinese Taipei, we have to play better on defence and at the same time, we have to attack effectively to gain crucial points. We have to try our best to beat them. The first win will help boost our team’s confidence. Although we are playing without key player Onuma (Sitthirak) and highly-experienced setter Nootsara (Tomkom), the other young players should learn that they have to gain experience and exposure to upgrade their performances in order that they can follow the senior players’ successful footsteps in the future.”

Lin Ming-Hui, head coach of Chinese Taipei
“We are ready for the tournament. All participating teams are very strong, but we will do our best. However, our key player and captain Chen Wan-Ting could not join us this time as she underwent her left-shoulder injury.”

Majda Cicic, head coach of Iran
“I have been coaching Iran for three months already and I just would like the Iranian team to improve their tactics in leaps and bounds. However, to get improving, they must take part in more competitions in order that they can learn from the other teams. We are lucky to have a chance to compete at the Asian Women’s Club Championship in the Philippines. This time, I think my team have come much stronger out there to finish fifth place overall.

“In the AVC Cup here, every team is very strong and to beat any team is a tough mission. I just would like my players to play more comfortably without any pressure. Against hosts Vietnam in the curtain-raisers, I think it will be very exciting to play in front of a large number of spectators after the opening ceremony. We will try to do our best.”

Thai Thanh Tung, head coach of Vietnam
“Many players in my team get injured, while our veteran middle blocker Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa also played with Thailand’s Bangkok Glass in the Asian Women’s Club Championship and she then had no time to train with us. However, we hope to perform well in front of our home crowd. Several players in my team are still young and they hope to gain experience in order that they will be strong enough to make the national senior squad in the near future.”

Shapran Vyacheslav, head coach of Kazakhstan
“All participating teams are strong, but we will do our best in every match we play. Win or lose, we will give it all-out.”

The “SMM” 2016 AVC Cup for Women will kick off at the Vinh Phuc Gymnasium in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam on Wednesday, September 14. Kazakhstan will take on Japan in the first match, followed by Chinese Taipei against Thailand, Korea against China and Iran against Vietnam.