The Paris Olympics were a painful experience for the Chinese women's volleyball team, including Lang Ping and Zhu Ting, as well as Li Yingying, Wang Yuanyuan, Wang Mengjie, Yao Di, and most fans. However, for some individuals within the Chinese Volleyball Association and national team head coach Cai Bin, the fifth-place finish at the Paris Olympics was considered a success. This is because it represented an improvement from the ninth-place finish in Tokyo and fulfilled their objectives. Additionally, with the decline of the three major ball sports, the women's volleyball team's ability to reach the Olympic quarterfinals was seen as one of the best performances.
As a result, certain officials retained their positions, and for the next four years of the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, the formation and operation of the national women's volleyball team will continue in the style of Paris. This makes it relatively easy to predict the roster for the 2025 national team training camp.
Zhu Ting, Yuan Xinyue, and Wang Mengjie are unlikely to participate in the new round of national team training due to their age and the fact that Zhu and Yuan play in Europe, where the season ends later, making it probable that they will only return to the team shortly before major competitions.
Li Yingying, Wang Yuanyuan, and Gong Xiangyu are the core of the national team, while Wu Mengjie, Zhuang Yushan, and Gao Yi are key players. Xu Xiaoting, Ni Feifan, and Wang Wenhao left the national team before the Paris Olympics but will naturally continue to prepare for the Los Angeles Olympics.
In the main attack position, it is likely that Wang Yizhu and Tang Xin will be added, as they have indeed performed well, and the regions of Tianjin and Jiangsu have always been significant contributors of talent to the national team.
The selection of libero will definitely include Xu Jianan, as Liaoning women's volleyball team has no other suitable candidates. Another candidate is Wu Xinyu from Shandong women's volleyball team, who is a relatively young starting libero in the A-level teams and has performed commendably.
Newcomers are needed for the setter and spiker positions, with Jie Shengyu and Zou Jiaqi being promising newcomers in the setter position. Jie Shengyu was already on the big list during the Paris cycle, and Zou Jiaqi's family background cannot be overlooked.
The spiker position is somewhat challenging, but fortunately, Chen Boya's performance has been improving, making her the only domestic spiker besides Gong Xiangyu who can receive serves and maintain offensive capabilities. Among the young newcomers, Fan Berning stands out.
The vice attack line is full of talent, with Yuan Xinyue, Wang Yuanyuan, Gao Yi, and Yang Hanxu all in excellent form. Newcomers such as Wang Wenhao and Shan Linqian are also very motivated, and it remains to be seen how the coaches will make their choices!
The main achievement of the Chinese Volleyball Association in recent years has been to systematically advance various tasks and strive to balance relationships among various parties. Therefore, in the new Olympic cycle, the national team roster will not have too many surprises. There will be newcomers selected for each position, but ultimately, the main players will still be familiar faces, much like the 12-person roster for the Paris Olympics, which primarily focused on balancing relationships among various parties.
Therefore, Ni Feifan and Xu Xiaoting, like Li Yingying and Wang Yuanyuan, will definitely enter the national team training and are very likely to be the main starters.
If there are no unexpected developments, the training roster for the Chinese women's national volleyball team in 2025 will look like this:
Main Attack: Li Yingying, Wang Yizhu, Wu Mengjie, Tang Xin, Zhuang Yushan, Li Chenxuan.
Vice Attack: Wang Yuanyuan, Gao Yi, Yang Hanxu, Wang Wenhao, Shan Linqian.
Spiker: Gong Xiangyu, Chen Boya, Fan Berning.
Setter: Xu Xiaoting, Jie Shengyu, Zou Jiaqi.
Libero: Ni Feifan, Xu Jianan, Wu Xinyu.