World Championship Shock! Underdogs Make History, Chinese Women's Volleyball Team Loses 1-3 and Misses Quarterfinals, Worse News Follows

On September 1st, Beijing time, the Women's Volleyball World Championship Round of 16 concluded with a crucial clash between China and France for quarterfinal qualification. The Chinese squad faltered and was thoroughly outplayed, falling 1-3 to France in a surprising upset. This result represents China's poorest showing in four editions of the World Championship. Additionally, the defeat caused a major loss of ranking points—18.27 points deducted—dropping China to seventh place globally!

The Chinese women's volleyball team is currently ranked fifth in the world but is undergoing a period of transition between generations. To rebuild the team, many young players have been introduced to accelerate their development. After gaining experience through the Volleyball Nations League, these players have shown progress, though the World Championship stage remains crucial to truly test their abilities!

Perhaps our team was too inexperienced at this World Championship, showing clear signs of nervousness, which led to failing to keep clean sheets against Mexico and Colombia. It was only in the third match against the Dominican Republic that we found our rhythm, winning in straight sets and securing first place to avoid an early clash with Brazil, instead facing the relatively weaker French team!

Unexpectedly, against France, our performance was very poor. We were dominated on the court, struggled to execute attacks, and lacked a decisive player to finish points. Quickly losing two sets put us in a difficult position. We fought hard to save the third set, but in the fourth, our offense stalled again and we couldn’t break through France’s defense. The score quickly slipped away, and the Chinese team couldn’t catch up. Ultimately, we lost narrowly 1-3, a shocking upset that sent us home early!

With China’s defeat, France made history by reaching the World Championship quarterfinals for the first time, proving that former underdogs can rise. Meanwhile, the once-strong Chinese team has regressed dramatically, which was truly unexpected. In this match, China’s offense was clearly suppressed: Li Yingying was hampered by injury and out of form, Zhuang Yushan struggled with height disadvantages at the net, Zhu Ting and Yuan Xinyue were absent, and the newcomers couldn’t fill the gap. Ultimately, this defeat at the World Championship might just be the price of growth!

Written by / Sports Novel