Every face is awesome
The Organizing Committee officially accepted the registration of 10 foreign players (foreign soldiers) from 8 women's teams for this competition. They are Warisara Seetaloed (LPBank Ninh Binh), Tichaya Boonlert, Sharon Chepchumba Kiprono (Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemicals), Joyce Agbolossou (VTV Binh Dien Long An), Jana Kulan (Binh Phuoc School of Information Corps), Papatchaya Phontham (Vietinbank), Svetlana Sukhoverkhova (Geleximco Thai Binh), Gullapa Piampongsan, Yeliz Başa (Quang Ninh), Liu Yanhan (Long Son Thanh Hoa Cement). The latest foreign player to arrive in Vietnam, Papatchaya Phontham, has also trained with his team to familiarize himself with the profession and be ready to compete.
The common point of the foreign players that each team signed contracts to play in Vietnam is that they are all good at the attacking position. That is, all teams want to solve the problem of scoring points most effectively for themselves. According to the representative of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation, this is one of the years that the foreign players in the women's event have created curiosity among the audience.
Because not many teams continue to hire foreign players who played for them in the first phase of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship. The teams all hire new faces. Many of the players are over 1m90 tall and have experience playing in Europe.
Foreign players Sharon Chepchumba Kiprono, Jana Kulan, Svetlana Sukhoverkhova, Joyce Agbolossou, Yeliz Başa, Liu Yanhan are expected to stir up the stadium at Lao Cai province with their fierce attacks.
In recent years, Vietnamese women's volleyball has not produced many players who play in the main or opposite position with outstanding height and good attacking ability. Therefore, when foreign players are added, the coaching staff of each team must find the best person to fill this position. Regardless of how the foreign players play, when they are on the field, the domestic players are assured because they are waiting for the person who takes on the responsibility of hitting the ball to score points for the team.
Luck still counts
Last year, the Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemicals women's team added foreign hitter Polina Rahimova (Azerbaijan) in the hope that this striker would shine and help them win the national volleyball championship. Despite the addition of such a quality player and reaching the final, the Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemicals team still lost the match and continued to receive the runner-up position.
Another example that proves that foreign players can be of good quality but without luck, it is very difficult to reach the championship is the Information Corps team of Truong Tuoi Binh Phuoc. In two consecutive national volleyball championship seasons in 2022 and 2023, coach Pham Minh Dung and his team were determined to win and were reinforced with good foreign players, but they were still not successful.
The nine head coaches of the nine teams were all reserved and did not say much about their teams’ preparations before the competition, but experts understood that they all wanted to win. Whoever wins the final match will have to wait for the results on November 17.
“This year is an important year for the tournament because from next year, Vietnamese volleyball will only have eight participating teams. The teams will have to make efforts to maintain their positions this year. We understand that each team has its own determination, but the game will be very clearly classified through the matches. The second stage of the tournament has 16 matches for each team to decide their ranking,” analyzed the General Secretary of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation, Mr. Le Tri Truong.
In the remaining 16 matches of the tournament, each team must carefully calculate because the decisive factor for their ranking lies in the time of each match. That is, based on the available schedule, the coaching staff will grasp how their opponents perform professionally.
It is true that luck plays a part in the overall result, but above all, the teams must ensure their strength and have thorough preparation to feel secure when competing. In fact, 9 teams have practiced and gotten used to the field and atmosphere of Lao Cai.
“Our players are in high spirits. The teams are well aware of the decisive nature of this tournament, so they are cautious and ready with their best players to compete,” said a representative of the LPBank Ninh Binh women’s team.
This year, the tournament champion continues to receive a prize of 500 million VND. The championship and valuable prizes are always the goals for all teams to conquer and when possible, no team wants to miss the most prestigious trophy of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship.
