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Ambitious L.Lozano eyes to propel Chinese men's volleyball team into 2020 Olympics

Xinhua, April 26, 2017 Adjust font size:

The newly-appointed head coach of Chinese men's volleyball team Raul L. Lozano made his debut in front of media here on Wednesday, and the target of the first-ever foreign boss is to take the team to top level in Asia and return to the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.

The 61-year-old Argentinean had coached Spain, Poland, Germany, and Iran in his career and had led three of the four teams into Olympics while the recent one came in last year when he helped Iranian team make their debut at Olympic Games in Rio.

"In fact, I was very familiar with Chinese team as an opponent. At the qualifying for Rio Olympics, I coached the Iranian team and defeated Chinese team. Now I want to give back something to Chinese team, take them to the Olympics," said L. Lozano.

The arrival of L. Lozana was widely considered "a new era" of the Chinese men's volleyball team. Comparing with the women's team who had claimed the Olympics title three times in 1984, 2004, and 2016, the men's team had poor memories of the event as they only participated Olympics twice - as substitute team in 1984 and as host team in 2008.

After failing to make the way to Rio last year, the Chinese Volleyball Association started a hunt for an experienced foreign coach for the team and eventually the choice fell on L. Lozano.

"Chinese team is good at attacking, but like other Asian teams, China's defense is weak. I don't think it is because of the height, the players can do much better and we'll have some targeted training to improve that.

"The success of the women's team could be a good lesson for us, I'm very confident about my players, especially for their learning ability and adaptability. I'm sure that my coaching will bring in some good changes," said L. Lozano.

However, L. Lozano's job is definitely not easy as the CVA has made a clear timetable for the team in the coming four years.

"Winning a medal in the Asian Championship this year; Making into the final in the Asian Games next year; Winning the gold medal in the Asian Championship in 2019 and eventually competing in Tokyo 2020," the CVA said in a statement. Endit