Guangzhou Daily. 2009-11-29  Sports

Special correspondent: Yang Min

Built in 1972, Baoding Stadium has never seen such a heated occasion since then: the platform with 5000 seats was over-crowded; over 50 media from nationwide crowded into the news release and some reporters even fought with the workers for seats; in the home of Hebei sports fans on the scene became advocates of the guest without exception. All of this is because of Guangdong Evergrande Volleyball. Lang Ping with her “Lang’s Team” fueled Group B games of National Women’s Volleyball League in 2009-2010. In its first appearance tonight, Evergrande swept its rival with 3-0, winning the first game of the season.

More Heated Than Group A Final Match

Baoding in Hebei Province becomes the focus of national volleyball because of the arrival of Evergrande. Evergrande’s first match in this season will be held in Baoding Stadium tonight, with its rival-Hebei Volleyball. Many people of Baoding who were once not enthusiastic in sports have been running on their way to catch a glimpse of Evergrande Volleyball these days. Tickets worth of 50 yuan each have been sold out by an early time. Over 50 media come to interview, which sets a new record in the Women’s Group B League, and even no Group A final has attracted so many reporters.

Evergrande arrived in Baoding in 26 and spent one day in adapting to the court. It will formally appear tonight. In front of the luxurious lineup consisting of stars like Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong and Yang Hao, Hebei has been waiting for its loss even before the game. The associate coach of Evergrande Zhang Jianzhang has once been the coach of Hebei and the leading second spiker Yin Meng is also from Hebei. The two “insiders” help Lang to find easily its rival’s weakness.

Evergrande’s starting lineup included Feng Kun the setter, Yang Hao and Wang Li the chief spikers, Yin Meng and Hamotto the second spikers, Zhou Suhong the second setter and Davis the libro. With three former national players and two American aides in court, when Lang waved to the audience, the whole stadium boiled. In the match every point of Evergrande was followed with thunderous applauses. In front of the most popular rival, Hebei met with frequent errors, losing the games speedily at 9-25, 15-25 and 17-25 respectively. Hamotto scored 14 points alone to be the score-leader of the match while Zhou Suhong and Yang Hao got 12 and 9 points respectively.

Lang Expects “He-Ping Battle”

The narrow hall had already been crowded with reporters be fore the release started, and the news official of Hebei had to thank Lang for so much exposure. Although the coaches and leader of both sides attended the release, Hebei at its home was cast aside. Hands rose one after another for questions about Evergrande who kept silent before the match. They wanted to know so much about it.

Lang: Expecting to See Chen

In the eyes of Lang, her team has only exerted half of its potential and had too many errors. She believed that they would play better and better in the next games: “We have only spent two weeks in training of cooperation since establishment.” It’s far from enough for an excellent team, and we’ll improve our tacit cooperation in the matches later and our players should be in better state.” ”Veterans like Feng Kun played the full match and displayed good performance. Lang didn’t worry about their energy and emphasized at the same time that Evergrande also had a strong backup. Lang was quite satisfied with cooperation between Feng Kun and foreign aides. Anyway she thought that they needed to improve their verbal communication.

After the match Evergrande will leave for Xiamen early tomorrow morning, preparing for the competition with Fujian in Dec. 1. It is the first “He-Ping battle” after Beijing Olympics, since the former coach of Chinese team and the present vice director of Fujian Sports Bureau places emphasis on the results. Lang is expecting the reunion with her old friend Chen, “I’m expecting to see Chen because Zhangzhou is the paradise of Chinese women’s volleyball, where trainings for any world competition were done.”

Feng Kun: Enjoying Volleyball

As for Evergrande’s leader Feng Kun, the most valuable is to have a good feeling. “It’s much easier to play in Evergrande than in the national team, and it’s quite different from Italian professional clubs. After all we’re leading a collective life in Evergrande, which is quite familiar with us. The training intensity here is more or less the same as that of national team, only that Lang has good skill in controlling injury. And veterans with much injury like us would not feel too hard. In such circumstances, we keep in good state and enjoy a relaxed feeling.” Feng said that she was not under hard pressure since she has been in the stage of enjoying volleyball, “I feel that the pressure is not hard enough and I’m relaxed with good feeling, so the competition is an entertainment for me. I’ve seen the enthusiasm of sports fans here, and I really hope that more fans will show their care and enthusiasm for the league so that the Chinese volleyball will be improved greatly.”