Recently, according to official news, Li Quanqiang, the former director of the Volleyball Management Center of the General Administration of Sport, is suspected of serious violations and is currently under investigation by relevant authorities. He can be said to be a "big termite" in the field of Chinese sports!
The news that Li Quanqiang, the former director of the Volleyball Management Center, was under investigation has sparked heated discussions among domestic fans. Unlike football, volleyball has always been a traditional strength project for the Chinese team, especially the Chinese women's volleyball team. As a result, some fans speculate that the anti-corruption wind has blown into the volleyball world. However, it must be said that during Li Quanqiang's five-year tenure, the performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team was indeed not very good, and could even be said to have plummeted!
It is understood that Li Quanqiang began serving as the director of the Volleyball Management Center in February 2017, after the Rio Olympics. Entering the Tokyo Olympic cycle, the Chinese women's volleyball team began to decline. At the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team suffered a crushing defeat in the group stage, returning with broken feathers, only achieving ninth place, creating the worst record in the history of the Chinese women's volleyball team at the Olympics, triggering strong dissatisfaction from domestic fans.
At that time, everyone attributed the failure of the Chinese women's volleyball team to head coach Lang Ping, believing that Lang Ping's tactical application was incorrect, leading to the crushing defeat of the Chinese women's volleyball team! Now it seems that although Lang Ping may have had some responsibility for the failure of the Chinese women's volleyball team at the Tokyo Olympics, she certainly did not bear all the responsibility, and it may even have something to do with Li Quanqiang, the director of the Volleyball Management Center who has been investigated, after all, he was the top leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team at the time. Even if responsibility is to be borne, Li Quanqiang would be the first to bear it. After the Tokyo Olympics, Lang Ping's contract expired, and the Chinese women's volleyball team did not renew with Lang Ping, coupled with Lang Ping's own injuries, she left the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Later, Cai Bin replaced Lang Ping as the head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team, and Lai Yawen also replaced Li Quanqiang as the director of the Volleyball Management Center! Under the leadership of Cai Bin and Lai Yawen, the Chinese women's volleyball team began to get back on track, and their performance gradually improved, although they did not reach the peak period before, but progress could still be felt. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, although the Chinese women's volleyball team failed to reach the top four, they achieved a good result of fifth place, which is a very obvious improvement compared to the Tokyo Olympics. More importantly, under the leadership of Cai Bin, the Chinese women's volleyball team not only made significant progress in performance, but also achieved good results in team building. It is believed that it will not take long for the Chinese women's volleyball team to return to the pinnacle again.