Famed Chinese volleyball player Zhu Ting’s speech, likening China’s “Women’s Volleyball Spirit,” with the nation’s unified fight against #COVID19, garnered appreciation from Chinese netizens on Friday.
Zhu, China’s volleyball ace and captain of the beloved women’s national team, is a deputy of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature.
Chinese women’s volleyball spirit refers to hardwork and resilience.
The Chinese team ranks top in world female national volleyball ranking, based on statistics of the international volleyball federation (FIVB).
At a routine group interview ahead of the opening meeting of the annual session of the 13th NPC on Friday, Zhu mentioned the Chinese team’s 2018 Volleyball Women’s World Championship semifinal loss.
“We were initially very sad and dispirited after that game,” she recalled. “But our coach Lang Ping told us to brace up to ‘raise the national flag (strive for the third place)’ anyway even though we had been unable to ‘let the national anthem play (get the first place).'”
Zhu said the spirit echoes China’s national ethos – the motherland first, encapsulating solidarity, hardwork, and resilience.
“The hardest time is also the time when we are most united and tenacious,” she added.
Zhu’s remark was lauded by the Chinese netizens, as several social media users commented that the efforts and spirits of women’s national volleyball team had inspired Chinese people from all walks of life to fight against the coronavirus.
Volleyball is a team sport that attaches importance to solidarity and cooperation, commented a Weibo user Xie Chunzhen, a veteran fan of Zhu.
“Similar to this sport, the fight against the virus in China is a much larger ‘teamwork,’ in which the whole nation is united as one,” she told the Global Times on Friday.
Xie lives in Yuexiu district of Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, where clustered COVID-19 infections of the novel coronavirus were reported in April. She recalled the efforts of her residential community staff in daily temperature screening of all residents to prevent the risks of virus transmission.
“No victory is easily earned,” Xie said. “Either a volleyball game or the coronavirus battle, it needs everyone’s participation and contribution.”
NPC deputy Zhu Ting, China’s volleyball ace and captain of women’s national team, speaks at a group interview on Friday (photo: screenshot of CCTV)
