China draw France, US, Serbia in Olympics volleyball
China's women's volleyball team will face host nation France, defending Olympic champions the United States and reigning world champions Serbia in the first stage of the Paris Olympics. China's team is eyeing a rebound from its worst ever Olympic performance in Tokyo last time, where the three-time Olympic champions were eliminated in the first stage. The 2024 Paris Olympics will be China's 11th consecutive Olympic appearance in women's volleyball since their debut in Los Angeles in 1984, when they also won gold for the first time, before also standing atop the Olympic podium at Athens 2004 and Rio 2016, respectively. The 12 qualified teams for Paris were drawn into three pools of four at Wednesday's drawing ceremony in Bangkok, ahead of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League [VNL] Finals. Apart from France, the United States, China and Serbia in Pool A, Brazil, Poland, Japan and Kenya were drawn into Pool B, while Italy, Türkiye, the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic are in Pool C. The pool winners, the pool runners-up and the two best-ranked third-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The Olympic volleyball tournament at Paris 2024 will take place from July 27 to August 11 at the South Paris Arena in the French capital. (Xinhua)