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US swings the Iron Hammer

By Tan Yingzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-15 08:47

The duel between Chinese and US women's volleyball teams tonight will put the Americans and their Chinese coach to the test against a team it has had difficulty beating.

The American women's volleyball team has attracted a lot of attention here since Lang Ping, former head coach of the Chinese national team and a formidable player in her own right, took over the reigns.

Danielle Scott-Arruda (top) of the US slams a shot onto Desiree Glod of Venezuela on Wednesday. The US won 3-1. AFP

Nicknamed "Iron Hammer," Lang was the ace spiker on the triumphant women's volleyball team in 1980s, which won five consecutive major international crowns, including the Olympics, the World Championships and World Cups. She later led the Chinese women to take a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

With Lang on the coaches' seat, the Americans are expected to meet China today in a preliminaries match at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

China is now placed second after Cuba with two wins. The US is in fourth place.

The American media have put a lot of hopes on Lang, a seasoned veteran of the sport who has tried to minimize her own impact on the team.

"It does not matter how much I know because I am not playing the game," said Lang after the US won its second victory beating Venezuela in four sets in their Group A match on Wednesday.

"My knowledge about the Chinese team cannot directly help my players win the match. I always study carefully our rivals before every match and make detailed tactics, but it mainly depends on the players' performance on the court.

"It is just a competition between two teams, like other matches. It is going to be a very tough game, because China is very strong and they are the hosts. We are under a lot of pressure for this game."

Lang is more concerned with ironing out their own problems before the match. The team lost to Cuba 0-3 on Monday, despite a consistent performance by the players.

"The US team used to be good, but we have to bear in mind that we did not have a lot of time training together before the Beijing Games," she said. "The team has played inconsistently and when they did not hit the rhythm, they made errors. If you want to have a better result, you have to play consistently from the beginning."

Since Lang took the helm as the US head coach, she has drawn a lot attention in local media, especially when her team meets China at major international tournaments. China has won five out of seven encounters since Lang took over the team. "We are trying to reach the finals at this Games," Lang said.

CCTV2: China vs US, 20:00

(China Daily 08/15/2008 page22)