After missing a portion of the previous season due to medical procedures, the Chinese superstar finds her groove.
Zhu Ting, winner of the most valuable player award at the 2016 Rio Olympics and currently competing in Italy’s Lega Pallavolo Serie A1 Femminile, is unquestionably one of the most prominent players in the competition. The Chinese star, who is now 28 years old, is just in her very first season playing in Italy, but she has already made a significant impact. Her team, Savino Del Bene Scandicci, has now climbed to the second place in the current standings, and they are waiting for their next significant challenge in the league, which will be an away game against Volley Bergamo 1991 on Sunday, December 18, at 17:00 local time. The outside hitter measures 1.98 meters in height, and she is leading the way for her team (16:00 UTC).
Zhu joined her new club after she had successfully recovered from the wrist surgery that forced her to miss the entirety of the 2021-2022 season. She made her debut on the court as a substitute player in a fourth-leg home fixture against Trasporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore. She contributed six points toward a victory in a straight set, including the game-winning point, which was a remarkable bounce-back from the loss that they suffered at the hands of Igor Gorgonzola Novara in their previous game.
Zhu made his debut as a starter for Scandicci in their following game, which they won 3-1 away against Wash4Green Pinerolo. Zhu finished with a game-high 16 points to contribute to Scandicci’s victory. Since the Chinese outside started playing for the team at the beginning of November, Savino Del Bene have only lost two of their eight A1 matches. Both of these matches were intense five-set battles, and Savino Del Bene have gradually worked their way up to the second place in the table, where they currently have 26 points and an 8-3 win-loss record.
The defending champions, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, are the only club that is currently ranked higher than Scandicci in the standings; nevertheless, Scandicci is the only team that has been successful in beating Imoco so far this season. What a resounding victory that turned out to be! Zhu led the way for Savino Del Bene on December 4 by delivering her greatest performance for the team to date, which resulted in a 3-0 sweep of their hosts in straight sets. She scored more than 20 points for the very first time as a player for Scandicci, pounded an average of seven points each set, earned three kill blocks, scored directly from the serving line, and was above 50% in immaculate receptions.
Zhu Ting began her career as a competitive volleyball player in the year 2008 when she was chosen to be a member of the Henan Province sports school team. At the time, she was just 13 years old. A few of years later, she began her journey through the Chinese youth and junior national teams. She eventually became a senior national player. Soon after, she was able to bring home her first international medal, a silver at the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship, as well as her first international trophy at the 2012 Junior Asian Championship and her first international trophy at the 2013 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship, both of which also came with Most Valuable Player awards.
Zhu earned a spot on the Dream Team in her very first competition with the senior national team of China, which was the 2013 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix. China finished in second place in this competition. In 2014, she was a major contributor to her country’s achievement of a silver medal in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. China was victorious at both the FIVB Volleyball World Cup in 2015 and the Olympic Volleyball Tournament in Rio in 2016, bringing home the trophies in both competitions. Zhu was consistently recognized for her achievements on an individual level, but perhaps most notably, she was given the Most Valuable Player title at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Zhu led China to victory in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup (MVP), the 2018 World Championship (bronze), the 2018 Asian Games (trophy), the 2019 World Cup (MVP), and two bronze medals in the OKBET Volleyball Nations League before she made her final appearance in the colors of the Chinese national team in 2021.
The Chinese superstar won her first international medal while playing for Guangdong Evergrande at the club level in 2013, when the team took third place at the FIVB Volleyball Club World Championship and Zhu was named the tournament’s leading scorer. This was the first time the athlete had competed at an international level. Her club career reached its pinnacle after the Rio Olympics, when she was transferred to VakifBank Istanbul, where she played for the next three years. In her time with the Turkish powerhouse, she won one Most Valuable Player award, two titles, and a bronze medal at the Club World Championships. This is in addition to the fact that she won one MVP award, two titles, and a bronze medal in the CEV Champions League, as well as several national trophies and medals. She added another two national championship crowns to her impressive showcase after returning to China to compete for Tianjin Bohai Bank for a couple of seasons before making her debut in the Italian league this fall. Prior to making her debut in the Italian league, she returned to China to compete for Tianjin Bohai Bank for a couple of seasons.
When the Chinese athlete signed with Savino Del Bene Scandicci, the club’s head coach, Massimo Barbolini, was quoted as saying, “This year we have a very high-level squad, to which we have added one of the best players in the world, Zhu Ting.” Zhu Ting is a member of Savino Del Bene Scandicci. “There are a lot of people who are looking forward to seeing what we are capable of accomplishing, and there are also a lot of people who are curious about it.”
Zhu stated, “I’m here in Italy to show myself,” which is why he was in the country. “I made the decision to switch squads in order to further my development, and now I’m here to give it my all,”