Chinese women's volleyball team will begin their 2007 Grand Prix
campaign in Rzeszow, Poland on Thursday.
Coming into the Polish city with back-to-back win over the
Netherlands in friendlies, the Olympic champion is set to play
against Poland, Russia and the United States in Pool C from August
3-5 for the first week Grand Prix preliminary round.
"The 2007 Grand Prix is the fourth important international
competition the Chinese players participate. The high-level event
feature the top 12 teams in the world, and it will be a great
chance for the Chinese young players to learn experience from other
strong teams," head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team
Chen Zhonghe said before leaving for Europe.
"We will give all out to enter the top three at the Grand Prix
final, I hope the team can make a big progress after this
tournament," he added.
The Grand Prix lasts for four weeks with a total of 65 matches.
During the first, second and third weeks each team will play nine
matches in total.
The first week's action will also see Japan, Cuba, Dominican
Republic and Kazakhstan battling in Group A in Tokyo, Japan and
Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in Group B in
Verona, Italy.
The general ranking is decided by the total points gained by the
teams in the preliminary matches. Host China plus the top five
ranked teams will qualify to play the final in Ningbo, China,
during Aug. 22-26 with a round robin system to decide the 2007
World Grand Prix champion.
(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2007)