Chinese women's volleyball team eyeing Tokyo 2020 ticket

BEIJING - With the Olympic qualification tournaments just around the corner, the Chinese women's volleyball team is gearing up to secure a ticket to Tokyo 2020.

After the Nations League finals concluded on Sunday, the top 24 teams in the world rankings, other than hosts Japan, now turn their focus to the Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournaments (IOQT), to be held from August 2 to 4.

The 24 participating teams are allocated to six pools, with champion of each group qualifying for Tokyo 2020.

In recent years, China has been among the world's strongest women's volleyball teams, and scooped gold at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Since 1991, both men's and women's Volleyball World Cups served as qualification tournaments for the Olympic Games, with the competitions' top three teams initially qualifying directly for the Olympics, before this rule was changed in 2015 to qualify only the top two teams.

However, for Tokyo 2020, the FIVB has changed the regulations once again, and a series of intercontinental and continental qualification tournaments are now held to decide which teams qualify for the Games.

China are pooled with Turkey - whom they defeated at the recent Nations League finals - Germany and the Czech Republic.