Core reading
On November 14, the China Women's Basketball League kicked off the 2021-2022 season. The general sports team joined the league, the Liaoning team returned to the field after two years, the Sichuan team introduced a number of national team players to strive for a breakthrough, and the Inner Mongolia team retained the championship-winning lineup to defend the title, adding a highlight to the new season of the league.
On November 14, the China Women's Basketball League (hereinafter referred to as the WCBA) kicked off the 2021-2022 season. In a first-round match held on the 15th, last season's league champion, Inner Mongolia, ushered in a different opponent: the Chinese University Sports Association Women's Basketball United Team (hereinafter referred to as FUSC United), which is composed of university players. In this competition, the Inner Mongolia team unsurprisingly won the victory, but the student team appeared in the league arena, bringing new highlights to the women's basketball league in the new season.
This season, the number of WCBA teams increased to 18, in addition to the addition of FUSC United, there is also the return of the traditional strong team Liaoning after two years. In addition, the Sichuan team introduced a number of national team players and strived to make a breakthrough, and the Inner Mongolia team retained the championship-winning lineup, which also attracted attention. Now that the first step has been taken, the league has started from a "new" and it is worth looking forward to.
The league welcomes new members
Fusc United team, based on the Beijing Normal University women's basketball team, which has won the cup in the China Collegiate Basketball League (hereinafter referred to as CUBA) for nine times, has absorbed outstanding student players from Tsinghua University, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology and Sichuan Normal University. The team's goal is to participate in high-level leagues as an opportunity to improve the level of competition and prepare for next year's World University Games.
"For us college players, there's very little chance of playing a real game with a professional team." Liu Yutong from the Beijing Normal University team, who has played well in CUBA and can now compete with professional players, hopes to improve her technical and tactical level: "This time I can directly participate in the WCBA, which is a very good opportunity for me to learn and exercise. Song Kexin from the Tsinghua University team said: "I hope that through this opportunity, I can find problems, make up for deficiencies, let myself get enough exercise, and maintain a more stable mentality in key competitions in the future." ”
"Results are not our main goal." FUSC United head coach Li Sunnan said: "I hope that players will take advantage of the opportunity to pass with professional players to increase their ball skills and insights, especially in terms of psychological quality, there is a big improvement, can better understand the laws of basketball, improve themselves." ”
Teams set new targets
"New season cheers, rush! Sichuan women's basketball team come on! Before the opening match on the 14th, Sichuan player Li Meng expressed his expectations for the new season on social media. In the off-season, the Sichuan team introduced Li Meng, Sun Mengran, Han Xu and other national team players, becoming the favorite to win the championship in the new season.
As the champion of last season's league, the Inner Mongolia team introduced players such as Pan Zhenqi and Zhang Ru on the basis of retaining the winning lineup, which increased the thickness of the lineup. Battle, chairman of the Inner Mongolia Basketball Association, hopes that the team can "protect two for one" this season.
This season, the 18 teams of the WCBA will continue to compete in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, in a tournament format. The regular season is played in a single round robin format, with teams in the fifth to twelfth place competing for playoff spots through playoffs. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are single-elimination, while the finals are a best-of-three format.
Shandong ushered in the return of national team defenders Li Yuan and Wang Siyu, coupled with the original main players Cao Junwei, Yang Hengyu and Wang Yingzhu, the strength of the tenth team ranked last season was stable and rising, and the new season put forward the goal of "protecting six for four".
The strength of the Jiangsu team that broke into the final four last season should not be underestimated, the players cooperate with tacit understanding, uphold the concept of team basketball, and have outstanding technical and stylistic characteristics, and there is still a great hope to advance to the playoffs. In addition, Shanghai and Zhejiang, whose main framework has not changed much, are also strong contenders for playoff spots.
The Liaoning team, which returned to the league, was dominated by players in the 1995-2000 age group, with an average age of only 24.9 years. Head coach Han Qingling said: "The team has no specific goal for the performance, and forming a team to participate is already a very important step in rebuilding the Liaoning team. ”
The basketball world shows a new atmosphere
In recent years, in order to further improve the level of college basketball competition, and then cultivate more outstanding reserve talents for Chinese basketball, the China University Sports Association has actively explored new paths for campus basketball and professional league cooperation, such as signing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the Chinese Basketball Association, organizing the CUBA All-Star Team to participate in the Mid-Career Basketball All-Star Game, and exploring a variety of paths to allow more outstanding student athletes to have the opportunity to touch high-level leagues.
This season, student players have teamed up to participate in the league, which is the first time in history. This form of participation is undoubtedly a positive attempt at the integration of sports and education. Before the start of the league, FUSC United players participate in the physical fitness test according to the WCBA team standards, and the more standardized training and life plan is a new experience for student players.
Organizing outstanding student players to participate in high-level leagues and integrating excellent sports resources and educational resources together is a very meaningful attempt in the view of Zhao Xing, the leader of the FUSC team and the director of the project department of the China University Sports Association, "By training and living with WCBA teams, we can make up for the lack of team training in our education system." Allowing excellent student players to be exposed to high-level professional training in advance will greatly improve them, and such experience and accumulated experience will also be of great help to the basketball level of colleges and universities. ”
Author: Tao Xiangan, a reporter of this newspaper
Source: People's Daily