WUHAN, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Rio Olympics women's volleyball champion Yuan Xinyue told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that she and the Chinese team still have room for improvement ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games here on Wednesday.
Yuan claimed a silver medal at the Military World Games after China lost to defending champion Brazil 3-1 in the women's volleyball final on Tuesday.
"We have prepared a lot for the military games, and we always know that Brazil is our biggest opponent. It's a pity that we ended up with a silver," Yuan said.
When the two teams met in the group stage, the host had a clean sweep over Brazil. But the South American side made several changes in its starting lineup and bested China 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19). Yuan made only six spikes out of 24 attempts.
"We watched the video of their previous games," explained Yuan, adding that their roster's change was within expectation. "It was just a matter of on-court performance, we were not good enough in carrying out what we had prepared."
This was the third straight time that China lost the championship match to Brazil at the military games, and Yuan vowed to change the medal color into gold four years later.
"If I have the chance, I will definitely fight for a gold next time. We need to find our weaknesses in matches like this and try to overcome them," the 22-year-old said.
Before coming to the Military World Games, Yuan lifted the FIVB women's World Cup title with the Chinese national team in Japan, winning China's 10th title in world major women's volleyball events.
"Our hard work paid off," Yuan said of the triumph. "We had been preparing for the competitions throughout the year, step by step."
However, despite her excellent performance that helped China to win the World Cup with a perfect 11-0 record, Yuan believes she and the team still have room for improvement.
"There was Zhu Ting, Zhang Changning and Li Yingying in the team, and each of them did well in shouldering their offense and defense responsibilities. They shared the pressure and distracted the opposite blockers. But I still need to work out how to play without them. Apart from that, my next goal is to find out how to keep the efficiency in blocking," said the middle blocker.
"Blocking is no easy task. You need to face the powerful attacks passively and find the right timing and rhythm proactively. I need to think more, learn more and train more to get better," added the 1.99m-tall, who set teammate Yan Ni, best middle blocker of the World Cup, as her role model.
Looking into Tokyo 2020, Yuan believes the team still can improve in terms of stability on the court.
"Next year we will be more meticulous in training, targeting our opponents and our own weakness. I believe as long as we work hard, we can reap the harvest," Yuan said. Enditem
