Jiang
Ying (CHN)
From the
sweet face of youth
to the fierce
character of a leader
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 In
my opinion, Zheng
Meizhu was China's most all-around player, Lang
Ping the go-to-hitter, and Yang
Xilan the mind of the team, but Jiang Ying was
the little "duck" of the team, in other words, she
could do a bit of everything without excelling in any one thing.
She had to fill in for Zhang
Rongfang when she retired in 1985, and what a
responsibility that was. She did very well playing the outside
position, but had to fight for a spot with Hou Yuzhu, another
excellent attacker with a bit more serenity and cool-minded
poise. Jiang Ying was very young when she began playing as a
starter on the Chinese team and you could see it: she was always
smiling, always cheering, running around, but not in the girlish
Japanese sort of way, but rather with a maturity a notch above
Zhang Rongfang's.
The first time I saw her play was during a 1985 China-Japan
match in Hong Kong, when Hou Yuzhu suffered an ankle injury and
had to be substituted. Jiang Ying entered and seized the
opportunity to the maximum, playing opposite Lang Ping with
equal effectiveness. Since then there was no doubt that she was
going to an extraordinary outside hitter, maybe not as
spectacular as Lang Ping, but then again NO ONE could have
matched her. Succeeding the legend of Lang Ping was no easy
feat. Probably because Jiang Ying was not as dazzling as Lang
Ping, it took her a while to be fully recognised as a lethal
attacker. But China was at its peak when Jiang Ying was already
in the starting lineup, and she demonstrated at the 86 World
Championships in Czechoslovakia that there was no Cuban block
between her and a gold medal. Yang Xilan and Jiang Ying
connected to perfection, especially in that looped shoot ball to
the outside that had the opponents' middle-blockers going
insane. With her livelihood and energy, Jiang Ying proved to be
a real treasure. In contrast to her effervescence, Hou Yuzhu
assumed the other outside hitting position once Lang Ping
retired with a lackadaisical attitude that was not exciting to
look at. Perhaps this made Jiang Ying seem to embody the
collective soul and joy of the team in the post-Zhang Rongfang
era.
Jiang Ying continued to amaze at the Seoul Olympics, which
was also her last major international competition. In China's
match against Peru, she was China's go-to-hitter, producing
points from even the most difficult of angles to take China to a
near victory. Even as Peru was gradually catching up, Jiang Ying
never faltered. One could see all the heart and emotion that she
put in her play, and how interesting and proud the Chinese must
have felt to see Jiang Ying as the team leader. She pushed
everyone to continue fighting, to not give up, and putting every
ball down at key moments. However, things did not go entirely
China's way, and the last point of the match was a Peruvian
block on Wu Dan's
slide that made a high parabola to the back line. Jiang Ying ran
almost a full circle trying to regain her direction, and was the
ONLY player to chase that ball down. It landed between her and
the back line as she fell on her back in disbelief. But these
are the performances that opponents and fans will always
remember, for in Jiang Ying there was always a display of guts
and talent.
Jiang Ying serving
at a tournament in 1985. She began as happy-go-lucky teenager
jumping and smiling after every point, but with time she
became...
... a truly
determined and mature player in every sense of the word. Here
she is at the Seoul Olympics, where she showed real heart and an
undending desire to leave her country's name up high, despite
the outcomes.
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