Stars, financial support make Evergrande grand
By Ma Yue |
February 6, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RARELY in Chinese women's volleyball league has a second division team attracted so much media and public attention nationwide as Guangdong Evergrande.
The southern Chinese team, led by the veteran "Jenny" Lang Ping, won all the 12 matches in the 7-team second division to seal a promotion to the top league.
National broadcaster CCTV 5 showed all the home matches live. The team celebrated its success with a banquet on Monday and played a friendly game against the visiting US national team that attracted many sports celebrities, including former national coach Chen Zhonghe and renowned commentator Song Shixiong.
There is no doubt that the Guangdong team gave Chinese women's volleyball a big shot in the arm in its debut season itself. And much of the success is being credited to coach Lang Ping, her national-level players, as well as the team which is run like a company.
Lang Ping, nicknamed "iron hammer", herself was an attacking player in the 1980s, which was the golden period for Chinese women's volleyball. She was a member of the two World Cup winning teams (1981, 1985), a World Championship (1982) as well as the Olympic gold medal team in Los Angeles in 1984.
The former Chinese and US Olympic coach signed up with the Guangdong club last August and immediately roped in big name players like Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong, Yang Hao and Yin Yin, who was in the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medal winning squad.
Prize money
With two US national team members and players recruited from first division sides, Lang led the team undefeated. The Evergrande Group awarded the team 1.5 million yuan (US$219,745) in prize money, which is the kind of amount that a first division team gets in a year by way of sponsorship.
It is obvious that financial support played an important part in the team's success. Established by the Evergrande Real Estate Group last year with a registered capital of 20 million yuan (US$2.93 million), the Guangdong-based team became China's first professional volleyball club to be wholly owned by a company, while almost all the other teams are owned by local sports authorities, who receive support from companies.
Guangdong's top-class training facilities and salaries were the envy of other clubs.
"Evergrande is a company invested club," said Sun Yanxiong, the head coach of the second division Hebei team. "The way they function cannot be copied by the Hebei team. Money is a key factor, without which any comparisons is unfair and impractical."
But Lang faces a formidable task in the 10-team first division. The schedules not only gets tighter and competitive but she has to address the age factor as well.
Yin Yin is already 36 years old and is likely to quit the game, while the contracts of key players -- 31-year-old Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong (30) and Yang Hao (29) have yet to be extended.
Meanwhile, the club is hoping to maintain it's dominance -- a 100 million yuan (US$146,488) will be spent to build a modern training base with advanced technology. The club is also starting a recruiting program to build a second- and a third-tier team.
Given her success, it was inevitable that Lang be linked with the national job. But she has ruled it out.
"I have already been the head coach before (1995 to 1998) ... so I think the younger guys deserve the chance," Lang insisted.
The southern Chinese team, led by the veteran "Jenny" Lang Ping, won all the 12 matches in the 7-team second division to seal a promotion to the top league.
National broadcaster CCTV 5 showed all the home matches live. The team celebrated its success with a banquet on Monday and played a friendly game against the visiting US national team that attracted many sports celebrities, including former national coach Chen Zhonghe and renowned commentator Song Shixiong.
There is no doubt that the Guangdong team gave Chinese women's volleyball a big shot in the arm in its debut season itself. And much of the success is being credited to coach Lang Ping, her national-level players, as well as the team which is run like a company.
Lang Ping, nicknamed "iron hammer", herself was an attacking player in the 1980s, which was the golden period for Chinese women's volleyball. She was a member of the two World Cup winning teams (1981, 1985), a World Championship (1982) as well as the Olympic gold medal team in Los Angeles in 1984.
The former Chinese and US Olympic coach signed up with the Guangdong club last August and immediately roped in big name players like Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong, Yang Hao and Yin Yin, who was in the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medal winning squad.
Prize money
With two US national team members and players recruited from first division sides, Lang led the team undefeated. The Evergrande Group awarded the team 1.5 million yuan (US$219,745) in prize money, which is the kind of amount that a first division team gets in a year by way of sponsorship.
It is obvious that financial support played an important part in the team's success. Established by the Evergrande Real Estate Group last year with a registered capital of 20 million yuan (US$2.93 million), the Guangdong-based team became China's first professional volleyball club to be wholly owned by a company, while almost all the other teams are owned by local sports authorities, who receive support from companies.
Guangdong's top-class training facilities and salaries were the envy of other clubs.
"Evergrande is a company invested club," said Sun Yanxiong, the head coach of the second division Hebei team. "The way they function cannot be copied by the Hebei team. Money is a key factor, without which any comparisons is unfair and impractical."
But Lang faces a formidable task in the 10-team first division. The schedules not only gets tighter and competitive but she has to address the age factor as well.
Yin Yin is already 36 years old and is likely to quit the game, while the contracts of key players -- 31-year-old Feng Kun, Zhou Suhong (30) and Yang Hao (29) have yet to be extended.
Meanwhile, the club is hoping to maintain it's dominance -- a 100 million yuan (US$146,488) will be spent to build a modern training base with advanced technology. The club is also starting a recruiting program to build a second- and a third-tier team.
Given her success, it was inevitable that Lang be linked with the national job. But she has ruled it out.
"I have already been the head coach before (1995 to 1998) ... so I think the younger guys deserve the chance," Lang insisted.
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