China concluded Vital Heynen's tenure as head coach of the national team with a heavy loss. In the Belgian's last match, the Chinese lost 0:3 (18:25, 16:25, 18:25) to Pakistan in the bronze medal match at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Thus, Pakistan won a historic bronze and returned to the podium of the Asian Games after 64 years. The country's previous medal in volleyball was from the Jakarta Games in 1962.
For China, the defeat is even more painful because of how it came about. The Chinese did not even reach 20 points in any of the three sets, and the match ended in just 67 minutes.
Moreover, China did not participate in the Asian Games with an experimental or second squad. All 14 volleyball players who were on the team for the final tournament of the Nations League in Ningbo were also included in the squad for the Asian Games. Among them are Jiang Chuan, Yu Yuantai, Wang Bin, Wang Hebin, Zhang Zhijia, Li Yongzhen, and Peng Shikun.
The loss to Pakistan marked the end of an extremely unsuccessful season for the Chinese national team. China finished in last place, 18th, in the regular phase of the VNL with only one win from 12 matches, but as hosts, they secured a spot in the final tournament in Ningbo. In September, another disappointment followed. At the Asian Championship, China was eliminated in the quarterfinals after a 1:3 loss to the Republic of Korea.
At the Asian Games, the Chinese reached the semifinals, where they dramatically lost to Japan 2:3. After this match, Heynen announced that the bronze medal match against Pakistan would be his last in charge of the team and that he would leave the post after the Games.
The Belgian also admitted to a problem that he believes plagued China throughout the season – errors in basic technical elements despite constant work on them in training.
However, the last match turned into the toughest possible end for Heynen's period in China. Pakistan left no doubt as to who deserved the bronze – 25:18, 25:16, and 25:18, and after only 67 minutes, the Belgian specialist bid farewell to the Chinese national team.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov