Off the wire
• Chrysler recalls 20,670 vehicles in China  • Spotlight: U.S. accusations against Venezuela aim to justify intervention: observers  • China condoles death of top Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka  • News Analysis: The global impact of China's 13th Five-Year Plan  • Chinese investment in Europe, U.S. hit record high in 2015  • Foreign exchange rates in India  • Urgent: AlphaGo beats in 2nd match with Lee Sedol  • Urgent: AlphaGo beats Lee Sedol again to lead 2-0 in Go-chess five-game showdown  • Roundup: Myanmar starts presidential election for second term of civilian gov't  • FLASH: GOOGLES COMPUTER PROGRAM BEATS HUMAN GO CHAMPION FOR 2ND TIME  
You are here: 　 Home

Chinese women's team return to heroes' welcome with Rio qualification

Xinhua, March 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Chinese national women's soccer team received a warm

welcome at Beijing International Airport here on Thursday after they fixed a berth for the Rio Olympics in the Asian Zone qualifications.

China, who moved into the last 8 in the 2015 World Cup, qualified for the Olympic Games after 8 years, they kept an unbeaten run in the six-team round-robin qualifications.

China were not a favorite in the Rio 2016 qualifications as compared to former world champions and hosts Japan, traditional powerhouses Australia and DPR Korea, but they shocked the Asian giants and advanced to Rio even with one game remaining.

Yu Hongchen, the executive member of the Chinese Football Association (CAF) hailed the newly appointed coach Bruno Bini as the key role in the team.

"From training to on-the-spot guidance, he seized every detail. And no matter the analysis of the opponents, the understanding of his players or the adjustment of the environment, he has his own judgment."

"This performance can be seen as a boost to China's soccer, we have no detailed target in Rio, we will uphold our convictions and play every game well." He added.

Zhao Lina, the goalkeeper who was given a regular start in the qualifications, said:" Compare with the team in 2015, we are more united, the new coach always encouraged us to smile."

Wang Shuang, who scored a decisive equalizer in the dying time in the 1-1 tie with DPR Korea, expected a better performance in the coming games, "We should not have too much pressure, just try to show the best of us, but I still expect that we can have a high-level play."

It was a touching moment when players saw a huge throng of fans waiting in the airport lobby, some of whom stayed there for more than 3 hours.

Wu Haiyan, the right back of the team, said:"I didn't expect to see so many fans, it feels like coming home. We played the games smoothly, it is Bruno who gave us confidence, he told us to trust everyone in the team."

China's women team have played 4 editions of Olympic Games before and won the silver

medal of Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Endit