FIVB boss expects medal-winning run from China's female team

Ary S. Graca, president of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday that the CHINESE Women's national Team will win more medals in the future decade but the men's Team will need to work harder to get better.

"The Women's volleyball Team is very young, they will be on the podium for the next 10 years. I was not only trying to please the public here, I knew what I was saying. I saw the training, I talked to the girls and they were very young and very strong, I had no doubt about this," said Graca.

CHINESE Women's national volleyball Team wins the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. /VCG Photo

Since Lang Ping took over as coach of the Team in 2013, the CHINESE Women's Team claimed three titles at the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup in Japan, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Grand Champions Cup in Japan. The Team also won silver medal at the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Italy and bronze medal at the 2018 World Championship in Japan.

The FIVB boss believes the Women's Team had a bright future with their great champion members and a successful coach like Lang. He also mentioned a volleyball superstar like Zhu Ting of Turkish club Vakıfbank Istanbul can play an important role in promoting the sport.

As for the men's national Team, Graca thought they had great potential but also had a lot to work on to improve themselves.

CHINESE men's national volley ball Team at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. /VCG Photo

"As for the men's CHINESE Team, you have big potential. The CHINESE players are some of the tallest in the world, more or less like the Russians, so you have potential. The problem is to put in the heads of the players the idea of professionalism, the commitment with the sport, to train, train, train, that's the only word I know for those winners: It's work, work, work," said Graca.

The men's Team missed the two Summer Olympics since 2008 in Beijing. The FIVB boss believed that men's volleyball Teams in Asian countries, including the CHINESE one, fell behind the time with their physical training program. He said that the FIVB's willing to help China by introducing their Team to the FIVB Volleyball World League so they can play against the world's top Teams and arranging young players to join Teams in Brazil or Europe so they will have a better idea of how to improve themselves.

On Tuesday, Graca met Gou Zhongwen, director of China's State General Administration of Sports. After their meeting, Graca revealed that the FIVB would continue to work closely with the CHINESE Volleyball Association to make the sport more popular in China.

"I am quite sure that for China volleyball will fit very well in schools. It's the only sport that Women and men can play together, without hurting each other, because there is no contact, no violence, and the children can play." The FIVB boss told Xinhua that his goal was to make volleyball the "No.1 family sport in the world" and "The Sport of Asia".