China's under-achieving men's volleyball team has long been living in the shadow of its female counterpart, but has now targeted what could be an historic eighth-place finish at the Beijing Games.

The men have only qualified once for the Olympics at the 1984 Los Angles Games, and they have been struggling to catch up with the world's best.

As host of the upcoming Games, they didn't have to worry about qualifying this time round, but they are bent on carving a greater role for themselves. They want to serve as more than just a foil for traditional powerhouses.

"We are not scared," said head coach Zhou Jian'an. "We know we have to fight for every point and show our determination every single minute (we're on the court)."

As world No 21, the team is aware it has its work cut out for them.

"We have lagged behind the world's best for a long time, so it's unrealistic to hope for too much of a turnaround in such a short space of time," said Xu Li, director of the country's Volleyball Administrative Center.

"But, as we will be playing at home, we have no choice but to approach the Games with a never-say-die attitude. If we lose a match, we should give our best for the fans."

The team is now locked down at a training camp as it prepares for June and July's FIVB World League, where China has been drawn in Group D with Japan, Poland and Egypt.

European powerhouse Poland is tipped to top the group, meaning that China would have to beat the other two teams to advance.

Coach Zhou said he was happy with the draw, however.

"The main purpose for us in the World League is to test the starting line-up and give our players more experience of competing with the best the world has to offer.

"We have brought some new faces to the training camp, and the competition is a great chance to see if they are ready for the Beijing Olympics."

Under-pressure Zhou knows China has the potential to perform better. The problem is how to mine this potential and bring it out on the big day.

"Sometimes we play very well, but we have also lost matches that we should have won."

In last year's Asian Championships, China settled for a disappointing fourth place.

Zhou said there was still work to be done.

"We have to resolve major problems like inconsistency. If not, we will buckle under pressure at the Beijing Games.

"We have to get ourselves 100 percent ready both physically and mentally, if we want to achieve a good result."

Key spiker Tang Miao will be sorely missed after he sustained a crippling injury, Zhao added.

The 25-year-old star is still recovering after he was nearly paralyzed from a neck injury last June.

"He is crucial to the team. So now we have to find someone else to replace him."

(China Daily 05/09/2008 page11)