"Winning matches and finishing near the top of the group will give extra confidence to the players," Chen said. "But we cannot speculate about our rivals in the next round. All we can do is try to keep our best form."

Speculation aside, China's record against group opponents makes its chances of getting to the knockout stage look good.

During February's Cuba-China friendly series, for example, China won all six matches, which will surely give the team a strong mental advantage when the two teams face off in Beijing.

And although a tough Japan side upset China at last year's Asian Championships, Japan hasn't won a set against China in their last four Olympic meetings.

The highlight of the group will be the match between China and the US, a team that has made significant improvements since Chinese volleyball legend Lang Ping took over as coach several years ago.

Chinese media have dubbed these showdowns between the Chen Zhonghe-led China and the Lang Ping-led US "he ping da zhan", or "peace battles", a combination of the two coaches' names. The clashes are always the focus of intense media attention.

China has faced the US six times in Olympic history, winning four times.

Chen will have to spend time getting to know Poland and Venezuela, as China has never faced them in the Olympics.

"We will collect information and video about these two opponents. You cannot look past any team who makes it to the Olympics," said Chen, who still remembers China's embarrassing 2-3 loss to Poland in last year's FIVB Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

"We will pay for it if we are not fully concentrating in an Olympic match."

Chen will announce his Olympic squad next month, with questions lingering about the fitness of veterans Feng Kun and Zhao Ruirui.

(China Daily June 3, 2008)