Despite a dominant performance at the IWF World Cup, Zhou Jinqiang, chairman of the Chinese Weightlifting Association says there is more work to do in order to have success at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Following the close of the event, he told China Daily:
Although the team’s confidence has been greatly boosted as we broke many records, I told the athletes to keep a cool head.
There’s still a year before the Tokyo Olympics. Based on our experience, there is still plenty of time for problems and challenges to emerge. We cannot predict the future based on previous records.
The Olympics bring more pressure to athletes and coaches than other tournaments. We cannot be too optimistic. At each level, we have strong opponents from other countries.
We have a clear mind that it’s still a long and tough road ahead to the Olympics.
The World Cup revealed many problems. For example, Li Fabin from the men’s side got injured on the first day. Is that a problem of training, personal adjustment or mentality?
We still have time to learn from this experience. All the problems we’ve encountered can level up the standard of our training and preparation for the Olympics.