体坛英语新闻：China's soccer, basketball, volleyball face tougher battles for Olympic berths

Asian Men's Basketball Championships will take place from Sept. 15 to 25 in Wuhan of China. Reigning champion China will encounter a big challenge from Iran, champion in 2009 and South Korea, runner-up in 2010.

Hu Jiashi, vice president of Chinese Basketball Association, downplayed China's defending prospects. And veteran Wang Zhizhi said that former NBA center Yao Ming's retirement will definitely influence China's preparation for the Asian Championships.

However, another NBA player Yi Jianlian, who plays for Washington Wizards, said in confidence:"We have home advantage and winning the tournament is our mere target."

Asian Women's Basketball Championships will be held from Aug. 21-28 in Japan. China has built up their confidence after they lifted the titles in 2009 Asian Championships and 2010 Asian Games.

China head coach Sun Fengwu said:"We will be the champion in the 2011 Asian Championships." Center Chen Nan echoed:"There must be some difficulties, but we are still stronger than our rivals South Korea and Japan."

Chinese volleyball may face a tougher road to the London Olympics. For the women's side, they have not been what they used to be in 2004 Athens Games and 2008 Beijing Games. After a variety of defeats, the flagship team has changed its head coaches from Cai Bin to Wang Baoquan and then to Yu Juemin.

China will have to go through the Asian Championships in September to win a slot for the World Cup in Japan in November, where top three placers will advance to the London Games. Otherwise, China will have to play the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan in 2012.

It's really hard for China to go to London upright through the World Cup as Russia, Brazil are strong rivals. However, if China remain in a steady level, it is possible for them to win an Olympic ticket in the World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

As for Chinese men's volleyball, chance is slim as the team is far from the world class. They only played the Olympics in 1984 and 2008. But head coach Zhou Jian'an said they will never give up.