Time flies, and before we know it, we have arrived at January 2025. The second round of the Chinese Women's Volleyball Super League playoffs has quietly concluded. The latest standings have been released, showing significant changes compared to the previous rankings. In Group C, Jiangsu and Shanghai exchanged their positions, with Jiangsu taking the lead. In Group D, Liaoning Volleyball Team made a remarkable comeback, securing their first victory of the new year and climbing to second place. It is clear that this year's playoffs are fiercely competitive, and in the final four rounds of matches, each team will continue to intensify their efforts to see who can successfully advance to the top four. However, due to the extended league schedule, the semi-finals have also been postponed, which is the biggest adjustment for this year's league.
Since the end of the league has been pushed back to March, the original training time for the Chinese Women's National Volleyball Team has been correspondingly reduced. Cai Bin can only select the new training roster based on the players' performances in the league. Since entering the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team has faced new challenges, making the selection of talent even more urgent. It is known that the current national team is undergoing a comprehensive reshuffle, with many new and old national players basically confirmed to be retiring. This is not good news for Cai Bin. Taking the setter position as an example, the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team will likely start reshuffling here first. Cai Bin's protégé, Di Linyu, has already determined her future career direction after retirement, which means that Di Linyu will play for at most one more year, probably after this year's National Games, she will retire from the national team.
Previously affected by injuries, Di Linyu missed all of Jiangsu Volleyball Team's games until the playoffs when she finally returned. However, upon her return, Di Linyu also clarified her current situation, stating that the change in identity is a leap in her career, and even more so a challenge. Di Linyu's future will undoubtedly revolve around Nanjing Agricultural University, which is an indisputable fact, and she will be the first player to exit the national team. Next, let's talk about Wang Yunlu, who is far away in the Russian Super League. When Cai Bin selected her into the team, he initially considered Wang Yunlu as a substitute for Zhu Ting during the transition period. Now that Zhu Ting and Zhang Changning have both returned and expressed their willingness to continue serving the national team, Wang Yunlu naturally becomes somewhat redundant.
Moreover, there are two rising stars in the same position, Wu Mengjie and Zhuang Yushan, making it even harder for Wang Yunlu to find a place. Her retirement from the national team is almost certain. In addition, there is Wang Yunlu's substitute at the club, Jin Ye, who is also unlikely to be selected for the new training roster. The reasons are obvious; Jin Ye's performance this year with Beijing Team was quite good, but the competition for the main attacker position in the national team is fierce, and Jin Ye's age is a factor, reducing her value for development. Furthermore, Jin Ye did not have many outstanding performances during her time with the national team, causing Cai Bin to lose confidence in her. Naturally, Jin Ye will have to retire from the national team, with little opportunity in the new cycle. There is another national player whose situation is somewhat similar to theirs, and that is Gao Yi, the deputy attacker.
Spanning two Olympic cycles, Gao Yi has shown little progress. After returning to the league this year, she has completely fallen behind, performing far worse than Yang Han Yu and Wang Yuanyuan, among others. In the latest deputy attacker rankings, Gao Yi has fallen out of the top 10, and her teammate Xue Yizhi's form is much better than hers. Therefore, the increase in age and the rise of new talents in the same position have put double pressure on Gao Yi, making it highly likely that she will retire from the national team. Cai Bin will then promote more excellent newcomers to join the team. At present, there are indeed a large number of young talents in Chinese volleyball who have yet to fulfill their potential, and five newcomers are particularly promising. They are Chen Boya from Tianjin Volleyball Team, Jie Shengyu from Shandong Volleyball Team, Liu Zhenning from Yunnan Volleyball Team, Zhang Zihan from Henan Volleyball Team, and Yang Yuning from Sichuan Volleyball Team.
These five young players have never represented the Chinese women's volleyball team in international competitions, and some have never even been selected for the national team. With the entry into the new cycle, while the Chinese women's volleyball team undergoes a new round of reshuffling, these players will also迎来绝佳的上位机会。Therefore, we also hope that they can be given serious consideration by Cai Bin soon, be selected for the Chinese women's volleyball national team, and bring glory to our country!