Beijing, China, March 11, 2015 – The Chinese Women’s U23 team will assemble at Chenzhou city of Hunan Province on March 23 for an intensive training in preparation for the inaugural Asian Women’s U23 Volleyball Championship, which is due to take place in Quezon City and Pasay, the Philippines from May 1 to 9.

According to the China Volleyball Association, the Chinese team’s head coach Jiande Xu, who last year steered China to be crowned the eventual champions of the 17th Asian Women’s U19 Championship, is expected to create another significant record this time.

“We’ve just finished the League Matches. I don’t think it will be a difficult thing to keep the state,” Xu said. “As far as I’m concerned, we (the U23 team) remain in good shape. Not only the players, but also coaches have their physical condition in the pink. What we have to focus now is the team combination and how to unite as one team as we are from different clubs.”

The team are composed of 20 players from clubs of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong, Liaoning and Hunan. Their ages range from 17 to 22, with the height average reaching 185cm. However, their height average is still far from that of the team which won the 17th Asian Women’s U19 Championship. The height average of the Chinese U19 squad was above 190cm.

Jiande Xu, well-known for his rigorous coaching style, also led the team of China to capture the 4th Asian Cup in Shenzhen, China last year. In the final game, they beat Korea in comfortable straight sets to make a perfect record of not losing a match and even a set to their respective rivals.