After winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team has been on a downward trend. At the Tokyo Olympics, as defending champions, they lost three consecutive matches in the group stage and finished fifth, failing to qualify for the knockout rounds.
Last year at the Paris Olympics, despite having Zhu Ting and Li Yingying in the lineup, the team unfortunately lost in the first round of the knockout stages to Turkey, finishing in fifth place.
Over the past eight years, the Chinese women's volleyball team has faced numerous issues that have prevented them from improving their performance. Especially after the Tokyo Olympics, head coach Lang Ping and captain Zhu Ting faced a lot of criticism.
The Volleyball Association even published an article blaming Lang Ping for the defeat, which caused strong dissatisfaction among fans and netizens, ultimately leading to Lang Ping's resignation in anger.
Since then, the Chinese women's volleyball team has not returned to the peak of the Rio Olympics. Lang Ping originally wanted to continue coaching to prove herself, but the leadership of the Volleyball Association did not give her the opportunity. Finally, the leaders of the Volleyball Association were investigated!
According to the latest news, Li Quanqiang, the former director of the Chinese Volleyball Association Center, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law. He is currently under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the State Sports General Administration and the Supervision Committee of Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province.
Many old fans still remember that before Li Quanqiang, the director of the Chinese Volleyball Association, Pan Zhichen, was also investigated for serious violations of discipline and law in 2015. He was eventually sentenced to four years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan.
Now that Li Quanqiang has been investigated for the same reasons, it is unknown how much money he is involved in, but it is at least no less than Pan Zhichen, and the punishment may be more severe.
The decline in the performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team is obvious to all. Some say it is the coach's problem, others say it is the players' problem, but no one expected it to be the problem of the Volleyball Association Center.
Often, the coaches cannot make their own decisions about selecting players. They cannot choose the best and most suitable players for the team to participate in major competitions; they can only select players according to the requirements of the leadership.
In the last two Olympic Games, such voices have been significant, and everyone is well aware of the problems. Now, with the fall of the 62-year-old former director of the Volleyball Association Center, Li Quanqiang, many of the problems that occurred during the Tokyo Olympics have found answers.
After seeing this news, many fans are also indignant for Lang Ping. If she could have continued coaching after the Tokyo Olympics, along with the young athletes who have come up, there would definitely have been a chance.
But unfortunately, Lang Ping was criticized and questioned, ultimately resigning. However, during this Paris Olympic cycle, the Chinese women's volleyball team failed to win a single medal in the three major competitions. Whose responsibility is this?
After the Paris Olympics, Zhu Ting said it might be her last Olympics. Even Li Yingying, who is only 24 years old, does not know if she will participate in the next Los Angeles Olympics. If these two main attackers do not play, the performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the next Olympics may further decline. Li Quanqiang is truly a sinner of Chinese volleyball!