Underdogs China are to face uphill battles in a tough group of the forthcomping men's volleyball world championship, China's head coach Zhou Jianan said on Friday.

"We were unfortunate to be drawn into a group with three European teams, it's very tough," said the 46-year-old Zhou.

China will play in Group E against Bulgaria, France and Czech Republic, all teams which Zhou reckoned are better-equipped than China.

"Bulgaria are serious contenders for the title this time, over those years, we never beat them. And France are also very strong, we played with them four times in the World League this year, and won only once.

"Czech are stronger than us too, last year when we visited them, they beat us three times in a row." Zhou said.

China came into the world championship with what could be described as a mixed bag of results in recent years. At the last edition in 2006, following rather consistent performances from 1994 to 2002, they finished at a dismal 17th place.

Despite a poor display in the 2010 FIVB World League, where they finished 15th, and their subsequent demotion after losing the promotion or relegation series against Puerto Rico, they are hoping for a quick turnaround.

"We have made maticulous preparations for this championship," said Zhou, "We very much cherish this chance which only comes once very four years. Though our opponents in the group are strong, we will try our best to qualify for the next stage."

China will play their group opener against Bulgaria on Saturday. According to the rules of the tournament, of every group of four teams, only the last finishers will not qualify for the next phase.

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