BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's women's volleyball team left for Japan on Tuesday, ready to defend their crown at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup which opens on Saturday.

Spearheaded by captain Zhu Ting, the 16-player squad includes 2016 Olympic champions Zhang Changning, Yuan Xinyue, Gong Xiangyu, Ding Xia, Yan Ni and Lin Li, as well as Liu Xiaotong, Li Yingying, Liu Yanhan, Wang Yuanyuan, Zheng Yixin, Yang Hanyu, Zeng Chuanlei, Yao Di and Wang Mengjie.

14 players will be listed in the squad submitted before every game. In addition to the 16 listed above, China may also call up a further nine players to complete a 25-strong tournament roster.

12 teams will compete in the single round-robin competition from September 14 to 29. This is the first time that the Volleyball World Cup will not qualify any team for the Olympic Games. Brazil, China, Italy, Russia, the USA and Serbia have already secured their berths in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics alongside host nation Japan.