Beijing, China, March 15, 2015 – Chinese Men’s U23 squad are scheduled to assemble at Qinhuangdao City of Hebei Province on April 6 for an intensive training in order to prepare for the first edition of Asian Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship, which will be held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar from May 12 to 20.

According to the China Volleyball Association, the Chinese men’s U23 team consist of 19 players from eight clubs – Beijing, Heibei, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong and the Army. Judging from the roster, four players consisting of two key attackers, Binglong Zhang and Libin Liu, and two blockers, Zhaoxi Hu and Jiafeng Gu from Beijing are expected to steal majority places in the team, compared with three each from Zhejiang, Shandong and Shanghai and two apiece from Guangdong and Army, and one each from Heibei and Jiangsu.

The head coach Mu Li, who was also at the Beijing’s helm to steer his team for the consecutive two wins in the Chinese Men’s Volleyball League in the past two seasons, 2012–2013 and 2013–2014, is expected to help the Chinese side win a berth for the World Men’s U23 Championship in Dubai, the UAE from August 24 to 31, 2015.

“The team is formed temporarily for designated purposes. Players are from different clubs. Therefore, we have to focus on the team combination. Moreover, with the limited time, we shall spare no effort to practice. ”Li said, “To be frank, we are short of  blockers somehow, since several capable blockers are now in the national team.”

China will join Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Turkmenistan and Australia in Pool C of the Asian Men’s U23 Volleyball Championship. In the preliminary round, they will meet Turkmenistan on May 12.

CHINESE MEN’S U23 TEAM ROSTER

Staff coaches

Head Coach: Mu Li (Beijing)

Assistant coaches: Chun Li (Army), Siwen Dai (Beijing)

Doctor: Qiusheng Zhou (Henan)

Players

Beijing: Binglong Zhang, Libin Liu, Xizhao Hu, Jiafeng Gu

Hebei: Runtao Xia

Shanghai: Jiacheng Zhi, Zhen Qin, Tingwei Yan

Shandong: Meng Liu, Xiao Cui, Baihan Li

Jiangsu: Yaochen Yu

Zhejiang: Zhihong Jin, Yiyang Li, Zhiyuan Zhu

Guangdong: Zhenhui Liang, Jiajie Chen

Army: Tianyi Mao, Chuanhang Tang