Lausanne, Switzerland, August 5, 2015 - Liu Yanhan is already one of the major stars in the world of volleyball. For example, with 19 points, she was the outstanding scorer in the 3-0 victory over Japan in the final round of the FIVB World Grand Prix in Omaha at the end of July.
“The final round of the Grand Prix is a great learning experience for the young players like Liu Yanhan. We are trying to develop our young players, this is our goal,” said China's legendary head coach 'Jenny' Lang Ping. “They have all trained very hard and need to improve through competitions.”
The next important stopover scheduled for 22-year-old Liu Yanhan could be the FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship from 12th to 19th August in Ankara, Turkey. The wing spiker was already involved in the premiere of the new age group World Championships two years ago in Mexico. And already wowed all of the spectators back then.
In 2013, China beat the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 26-24) to win the gold medal. With 17 points, Liu Yanhan was the top scorer. The Chinese team won all six matches in the World Championship tournament, and with a total of 109 points, Liu Yanhan was the outstanding scorer for the World Champions and the second-best points scorer of the championship.
The title win was the greatest success to date for the player from Liaoning, who took the typical route to the top via the Chinese talent development programme. The 6 ft 2 inch player only attracted international attention in 2010 when she won silver at the Asian Youth Volleyball Championships and gold at the Asian Junior Volleyball Championships.
Five years later, the attacking queen with mighty jumping ability developed into an all-round player. At the beginning of May she led China to the gold medal in the U23 Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship in the Philippines. China pulled off a 3-1 (27-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-11) triumph over Thailand in the final – and Liu Yanhan was the outstanding player with 28 points. This saw both China and Thailand qualify for the FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship in Ankara.
In the duel with Korea, Liu Yanhan even managed to score 37 points. So it was logical that she was crowned MVP of the tournament. The Filipino player Alyssa Valdez summed up the opinion of the rivals of the Chinese spiking machine Liu Yanhan: “As a player, she is someone to look up to. Liu is an inspiration to everyone.”