Women's volleyball captain Zhu leads China into Asian Games
BEIJING (AP) — A towering volleyball player who makes her living in Turkey is the unrivalled star of China's squad at the Asian Games in Indonesia.
Zhu Ting is something of an anomaly in China's sporting world, which still largely relies on its highly disciplined and deeply nationalistic sports academies to produce champions who dominate at events such as the Asiad.
Her professional success demonstrates how its athletes are looking for new avenues to develop their talents, and sports administrators are hoping that will spark a resurgence in the country's fortunes after China placed third in the medal standings at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
Despite her already considerable achievements, the 23-year-old Zhu doesn't mask her thirst for greater glory.
"Champion, MVP, best attacker, I've nabbed them all. But still, champion (is my goal)," she said in a recent interview with Hong Kong media. "No one can get too much."
Zhu was the backbone of the women's volleyball team that won gold at Rio, earning her the MVP award.
That was followed by a move to Vakifbank Istanbul, where she won the Turkish league title last year and was paid a reported salary of more than $1.5 million — making her the world's highest-paid volleyball player, male or female. Unconfirmed reports say Russian club team Dinamo Kazan is prepared to increase that offer for the coming season.
Standing 1.98 meters (6-feet-6), Zhu is the middle of five girls of a family from central China's rural Henan province. She entered the junior national team at 16 and won her first MVP award at the Asian Juniors in 2012. The next year she was promoted to the senior squad by legendary coach Jenny "Iron Hammer" Lang Ping, who is again leading China's squad and continues to sing Zhu's praises.
"We're lucky to have such a gifted athlete as Zhu Ting," Lang said at a charity event late last year. "But not everyone in Chinese women's volleyball team has to be her."
Like her contemporaries, Zhu maintains a lively social media presence, posting July 31 on Facebook, "Can't wait to compete again with my team."
The 18th Asian Games will be held Aug. 18-Sept. 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.
China, which dominated the medal standings at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, will field a total of 845 athletes. Of those, 631 have no Asiad or Olympic experience in an indication of how China is developing a squad of younger talent in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and beyond.
"This Asian Games functions as a mid-term test and a valuable experience leading up to Tokyo 2020, and also serves as a comprehensive check on the state of competitive sports in China," Liu Guoyong, director of competition at the State General Administration of Sport, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.