A favorable draw allowed China's women's volleyball team to avoid powerhouses like Brazil, Italy and Russia in the group stage, giving its chances of defending its Olympic title a boost.

The Olympic host was drawn into Pool A, which also includes NORCECA champion Cuba, World Cup bronze medalist the US, South American champion Venezuela, Japan and Poland. Pool B consists of World Cup silver medalist Brazil, World Cup winner Italy, Athens Olympic silver winner Russia, African champion Algeria, Serbia and Kazakhstan.

China's head coach Chen Zhonghe downplayed excitement about the draw, saying he cares more about the knockout stage.

"I am not concerned about whether it is a good or a bad draw," Chen said. "Group competition is just the start and the real test comes in the knockout stage."

Team manager Li Quanqiang echoed Chen's remarks and said group matches are insignificant compared with China's quest to defend its gold.

"Volleyball's group matches are different from that of soccer and basketball," Li said.

After round-robin group competitions, the top four teams in each group will advance to the knockout stage.

"Brazil, Italy, Russia and Serbia are all very tough rivals. I do not think it makes much difference if we finish the group on top or in the middle," Li said.

Russia, the 2006 world champion, looks like the team to beat this summer, as it is still playing at a very high level. China finished seventh at the Worlds.

Italy will also be a major obstacle to the Olympic host if they meet in the knockout round. Italy has defeated China five times and lost only twice after Athens Games.

But both Chen and Li said that their main focus is on the group matches and to guarantee the team's form is good enough to make it to the next round.

"Winning matches and finishing near the top of the group will give extra confidence to the players," Chen said. "But we cannot speculate about our rivals in the next round. All we can do is try to keep our best form."

Speculation aside, China's record against group opponents makes its chances of getting to the knockout stage look good.

During February's Cuba-China friendly series, for example, China won all six matches, which will surely give the team a strong mental advantage when the two teams face off in Beijing.

And although a tough Japan side upset China at last year's Asian Championships, Japan hasn't won a set against China in their last four Olympic meetings.

The highlight of the group will be the match between China and the US, a team that has made significant improvements since Chinese volleyball legend Lang Ping took over as coach several years ago.

Chinese media have dubbed these showdowns between the Chen Zhonghe-led China and the Lang Ping-led US "he ping da zhan", or "peace battles", a combination of the two coaches' names. The clashes are always the focus of intense media attention.

China has faced the US six times in Olympic history, winning four times.

Chen will have to spend time getting to know Poland and Venezuela, as China has never faced them in the Olympics.

"We will collect information and video about these two opponents. You cannot look past any team who makes it to the Olympics," said Chen, who still remembers China's embarrassing 2-3 loss to Poland in last year's FIVB Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

"We will pay for it if we are not fully concentrating in an Olympic match."

Chen will announce his Olympic squad next month, with questions lingering about the fitness of veterans Feng Kun and Zhao Ruirui.

"We want them to start training as soon as possible but I am concerned that such an intense schedule could aggravate their injuries," he said.

So far, Zhao has shown an encouraging return to form. But Feng, a pivotal setter during the Athens Olympic Games, is still struggling with a knee injury.

(China Daily 06/03/2008 page23)