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China's women water polo team eagers to play Olympic Games

Xinhua, August 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Led by the Brazilian head coach Rick Azevedo, China's women's water polo players could hardly wait to play their Rio Olympic Games right away as they had their first and only training session at the competition pool here on Wednesday.

"We feel great and excited here. We hope the competition start from tomorrow," said Ricardo Azevedo, who played the center for the Brazil national team as the captain during 1971-1984.

"My girls keep asking me 'when do we play, when do we play' all the time. In fact, our first group match starts on Aug 9. I love their desire for the competition. That is great. "

China will play Hungary on Aug.9, face USA on Aug 11 and Spain on Aug 13 in their Group B matches.

According to Azevedo, Chinese team is ready since they had trained in Italy, Spain during the last month and arrived in Sao Paulo one week ago.

"We have trained in the hot and cold places, and in different times of the day. So the weather in Rio is not an issue for us when we play in the outdoor pool."

For Azevedo, nicknamed as Big Rock when he was young, he was excited to come back home and enjoy everything in his hometown.

"I left Rio for 30 years. My house is 2 kilometers away from the village. My parents passed away but my brothers, uncles, aunts and cousins are all here. There are 75 people in my big family. I would like to have a glass of wine with them when I have time," Azevedo said.

"It is funny that my middle name is Rochinha, which means Big Rock, but now my friends call me Rochina, because I work for China. I am happy and proud of that. I hope my Chinese girls feel at home in Rio," Azevedo said. Endit