National women's volleyball championships to get underway in Taicang

After bringing home China's final gold medal at the Rio Olympics just days ago, women's volleyball is back at the net on center court in Taicang with the national championships set to kick off in a week's time.

The national women's volleyball championships will take place from Aug 29 to Sept 4, according to China Volleyball Association, and there is a very good chance some Olympians may turn up to help secure victory for their province.

Taicang holds the 2015 national women's volleyball championships. [Photo/Taicang Daily]

A total of 15 teams will contest for the national title, including Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Beijing, Guangdong and reigning champions Jiangsu. Although unconfirmed, it is likely that gold medal winners Zhang Changning and Hui Ruoqi from Jiangsu will show up to defend the province's title.

The teams will be divided into four groups based on their rankings in 2015 championship. Top seed Jiangsu will be categorized as No 1 of Group A. The final will be held after two elimination rounds followed the semi-finals.

The matches will take place at Taicang city stadium. All the games will be free, and anyone interested in watching can take buses No 111, No 115 and No 100 to the stadium.

Taicang has always had close ties to sports, volleyball in particular. For the past 10 years it has hosted the men's national volleyball championships, and this is the seventh straight year for the city to host the women's.