Can the new recruit under Cai Bin become Zhu Ting's successor?, Zhu Ting's Return to China Women's Volleyball Team Endless

On August 29th Beijing time, Chinese women's volleyball team's main attacker Zhu Ting updated her personal social media updates, confirming that she will not participate in the qualifying rounds for the Paris Olympics and the Asian Games in September. The qualifying rounds for the Paris Olympics will be held in mid September, which is a crucial period for the Chinese women's volleyball team to prepare for. The newly joined players in the latest training roster, apart from veteran Ding Xia, as well as young main attacker Chen Xiyue, who is under 18 years old, are attracting attention.

Zhu Ting revealed that she recently visited the Chinese women's volleyball team in Ningbo for training, and also reported her recovery situation to head coach Cai Bin. Recently, she will depart for Spain to meet with doctors and rehabilitation therapists and start a new round of rehabilitation training. Zhu Ting wished the Chinese women's volleyball team all the best, getting Olympic tickets as soon as possible! Looking forward to the next year! This also means that Zhu Ting will not return to the Chinese women's volleyball team temporarily.

Screenshot of Zhu Ting's Weibo account

Fans have always been eagerly hoping that Zhu Ting can regain her national team jersey, and her public statement has also made it clear that the Chinese women's volleyball team will continue to compete without Zhu Ting. In fact, when the ticket for the Beijing Olympic qualification round was opened, the new "Seven Fairies" poster of the Chinese women's volleyball team was launched, making the starting lineup a public secret. The main attacking lineup for the Chinese women's volleyball team was Li Yingying and Wang Yunlu, while the secondary attacking lineup was Yuan Xinyue and Wang Yuanyuan. They also received Gong Xiangyu, the second setter was Diao Linyu, and the free agent was Wang Mengjie. These were the main lineups for the Chinese women's volleyball team to participate in last year's World Championships and this year's World Women's Volleyball League. In the previous Olympic cycle, Lang Ping's Chinese women's volleyball team "Seven Fairies" were Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning, Yan Ni, Yuan Xinyue, Ding Xia, Gong Xiangyu, and Wang Mengjie. Compared to that, the new "Seven Fairies" have undergone significant changes and greater challenges.

This year's Olympic qualifiers, Asian Games, and next year's Paris Olympics, the task of the Chinese women's volleyball team is arduous. It is not only necessary to test the quality of the main players, but also to examine the depth of the bench. From the return of veteran Ding Xia, it can be seen that Cai Bin's approach to the challenge is to maintain stability. Ding Xia's experience and strength can play a role in critical moments, stabilize the morale of the army, and also play a role in guiding young players.

Chinese women's volleyball team's new "Seven Fairies" poster

Since stability is the main focus, why recruit the young Chen Xiyue under his command? In the list of Chinese women's volleyball team training teams released at the beginning of the year, Chen Xiyue's name was prominently included, but she ultimately failed to be selected for the World Women's Volleyball League lineup. This time entering the national team again, it is believed that Cai Bin intends to cultivate Chen Xiyue, and the young player is likely to represent the Chinese women's volleyball team in the Olympic qualifying rounds and the Asian Games. Another voice believes that both the Olympic qualifiers and the Asian Games are held in Zhejiang, and it is natural for locally trained players from Zhejiang to be selected.

Chen Xiyue, who currently plays for the Zhejiang women's volleyball team, is 1.94 meters tall and has excellent physical qualities such as explosive power, jumping, flexibility, and coordination. She once played as the absolute starting point of the team in the Asian Youth League, scoring a total of 198 goals and 100 goals in five games. With excellent performance, she won the Best Main Attack award in the World Youth League. This also reminds people of Zhu Ting, who once shone in the Asian Games. At present, the talent in the main attacking position of the Chinese team is still relatively scarce, and Chen Xiyue has become a highly anticipated rookie due to her height advantage and the ability to receive six rounds of one pass.

Chen Xiyue

Cai Bin has a heavy burden on his shoulders, as he needs to lead the team to achieve results while also taking care of training new players. With Zhu Ting's long absence from international competitions, whether she can catch up with the Paris Olympics is uncertain. Next year, Zhu Ting will enter her thirties, and whether her condition can still recover to the Rio Olympics is a question mark. If the Chinese women's volleyball team wants to make a comeback in this Olympic cycle, they cannot rely on waiting for Zhu Ting to return. They still need to mobilize the existing team members. Zhu Ting was gradually cultivated from Lang Ping to become a world-class main attacker. For the emerging Chinese women's volleyball team, Cai Bin can also explore and cultivate successors.

Chen Xiyue shares similarities with Zhu Ting in terms of height, physical fitness, and skills. Due to high-intensity training, Chen Xiyue was at risk of injury at one point. Her right knee eversion put tremendous pressure on her knee when she took off. Therefore, the coach specially designed a training plan for her. In Chen Xiyue's growth process, the coaching team will play a crucial role, and it is best to develop a reasonable training plan based on her characteristics and potential. In 2022, Chen Xiyue made her debut on the national team training roster. At that time, she mainly completed training tasks as a companion, but the atmosphere of the national team allowed her to make significant progress. Once again selected for the national team, Chen Xiyue needs to strengthen her skills and awareness, and comprehensively improve herself.

In this Olympic cycle, teams such as Russia, the United States, Japan, and Brazil are all focusing on cultivating young players, and a group of talented newcomers have emerged. For the Chinese women's volleyball team, to catch up with the footsteps of the world volleyball industry, it is not only necessary to strive for current achievements, but also to strive for future talent reserves.

The women's volleyball qualifying rounds for the Paris Olympics will be held from September 16th to 24th. The Chinese women's volleyball team is in Group A, with opponents including the Dominican Republic, Serbia, Netherlands, Canada, Czech Republic, Mexico, and Ukraine.