BEIJING, July 27 -- With London Olympic Games only one year to go, prospects for Chinese soccer, basketball and volleyball to earn Olympic berths remain slim.
Chinese men's Olympic soccer team has just finished their campaign as they lost to Oman 4-1 in a two-leg second round of 2017 London Olympic Asian men's soccer qualifiers.
Croatian Miroslav Blazevic, who once took the Croatian national team to win a bronze medal in 1998 World Cup, became head coach of Chinese team in last December but failed to bring a miracle to China. The team assembled five times for a total of 70 days but changed little in terms of tecniques and tactics.
Chinese women's team once won silver medals in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1999 Women's World Cup. However, they have been going down due to lack of young players. According to Chinese Football Association, China has only 400 registered women soccer players in sharp contrast to the world's 29 million. As a result, Chinese women's team failed to reach the quarterfinals of 2004 Athens Olympics and were even absent from the 2011 Germany's World Cup.
Now the team has finished their training in Changchun, northeast of China, where they aimed to reserve physical strength. The team played two friendly matches against Russia with one win and one draw. And then they moved to Shenyang for next training phase and will leave for Jinan about ten days before the Olympic Asian qualifiers slated from Sep 1 to 11.
According to the competition schedule, China will play successively against South Korea, DPR Korea, Thailand, Australia and Japan. Top two teams will be awarded Olympic slots after the single round-robin tournament.
Li Xiaopeng, head coach of Chinese women's team, expressed his confidence in earning an Olympic berth despite the fact that China lacks good forwards as Han Duan and Ma Xiaoxu both sustained injuries.
"We are on the same level with other teams, and we have the strength to beat them."said he.
Yu Hongchen, deputy director of China's football governing body, said:"I totally trust the coaching staff and they will bring hopes to us."
Compared with Chinese soccer's goal of winning Olympic tickets, Chinese basketball aimed to enter the last eight in London.
If Chinese men's and women's teams are crowned in Asian Championships this year, they can go directly to London. If not, they will have to play wildcard tournaments next year, which will allocate three tickets each for men and women.
Asian Men's Basketball Championships will take place from Sept. 15 to 25 in Wuhan of China. Reigning champion China will encounter a big challenge from Iran, champion in 2009 and South Korea, runner-up in 2010.
Hu Jiashi, vice president of Chinese Basketball Association, downplayed China's defending prospects. And veteran Wang Zhizhi said that former NBA center Yao Ming's retirement will definitely influence China's preparation for the Asian Championships.
However, another NBA player Yi Jianlian, who plays for Washington Wizards, said in confidence:"We have home advantage and winning the tournament is our mere target."
Asian Women's Basketball Championships will be held from Aug. 21-28 in Japan. China has built up their confidence after they lifted the titles in 2009 Asian Championships and 2010 Asian Games.
China head coach Sun Fengwu said:"We will be the champion in the 2011 Asian Championships." Center Chen Nan echoed:"There must be some difficulties, but we are still stronger than our rivals South Korea and Japan."
Chinese volleyball may face a tougher road to the London Olympics. For the women's side, they have not been what they used to be in 2004 Athens Games and 2008 Beijing Games. After a variety of defeats, the flagship team has changed its head coaches from Cai Bin to Wang Baoquan and then to Yu Juemin.
China will have to go through the Asian Championships in September to win a slot for the World Cup in Japan in November, where top three placers will advance to the London Games. Otherwise, China will have to play the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan in 2017.
It's really hard for China to go to London upright through the World Cup as Russia, Brazil are strong rivals. However, if China remain in a steady level, it is possible for them to win an Olympic ticket in the World Olympic Qualification Tournament.
As for Chinese men's volleyball, chance is slim as the team is far from the world class. They only played the Olympics in 1984 and 2008. But head coach Zhou Jian'an said they will never give up.
国内英语资讯:Chinese vice president attends reception marking 35th diplomatic anniversary between China,
体坛英语资讯:PSG agree to terminate Wang Shuangs deal one year beforehand
2019上半年CATTI笔译一级真题(英译汉)
令人惊叹的对称摄影图片(上)
拒绝拖沓 变身超高效率职场达人
国内英语资讯:China firmly opposes U.S. sanctions against its company
恐龙化石旁惊现脚印 博古馆沉睡50年
女性更易记住声音低沉的男性
心灵的明灯 The Light Inside
The Best Situation 最好的状态
如何才能与孩子一起愉快用餐?
全球十大度假天堂
国内英语资讯:China to further ease firms fee burden
日本男生讨厌的9种女生:你是“御宅族”吗
国际英语资讯:5.3-magnitude quake strikes off Japans Chiba Prefecture, no tsunami warning issued
开会老是犯困怎么办?教你几个妙招!
体坛英语资讯:Barca President rules out Neymar move but confirms interest in Griezmann
体坛英语资讯:Senegal beat Ughanda 1-0 to reach AFCON quarters
全球通勤痛苦指数 深圳北京名列前茅
多数美国人看好亚洲的发展
教你几招 从此让你爱上读书
国际英语资讯:At least 13 dead due to heavy rains in Brazil
体坛英语资讯:Guangzhou Evergrande deny Mourinho report
哲理美文:祈祷,倾听自己的心声
演讲不用怕:TED演讲黄金十法则
国内英语资讯:Xi presides over 9th meeting of central committee for deepening overall reform
阿根廷城铁列车与公交车相撞:11死228伤
从今天开始写日记的五个理由
国际英语资讯:Turkey not satisfied with U.S. new proposals on safe zone in Syria: FM
连环夺命call:女子拨打前男友电话6.5万次