Four days after the end of the 2021-22 WCBA Finals, the Chinese women's basketball team announced that the team's former head coach Xu Limin would no longer serve as the women's basketball coach due to physical reasons, and zheng Wei, the former assistant coach of the national women's basketball team, would act as the head coach.
With the departure of Xu Limin, this means that the new Chinese women's basketball team has entered a new cycle. Although the next job transfer will be made, the great contributions that Xu has made to the Chinese women's basketball team in the past five years will not be forgotten.
Xu Limin led the team out of the quagmire
Xu Limin officially coached the Chinese women's basketball team since the end of March 2017. At that time, he took the 12 pages of competition materials prepared in advance to participate in the women's basketball coach competition, although it was said that "success or failure is an experience", but at that time, he was already the coach of the WCBA champion and had served as an assistant coach in the women's basketball team for many years, and he had long been the best candidate for the women's basketball coach. In the end, he got his wish.
After taking office, Xu Limin was faced with a heavy and heavy responsibility. In the 2016 Olympic Games, the Chinese women's basketball team finally won only 10th place. Before this, the Chinese women's basketball team did not qualify for the 2015 Asian Championships, and could only participate in the Olympic games, and it was recalled that Chen Nan, a veteran who had been a mother and had been away from the field for two years, qualified for the Rio Olympics. At that time, Xu Limin was an assistant coach of the Chinese women's basketball team, and he watched the Chinese women's basketball team struggling.
Xu Limin led the team to participate for the first time after taking office, and the Chinese women's basketball team lost to Japan in the semifinals of the 2017 Asian Cup, and once again lost to their opponents in international competitions. After experiencing this reversal, Xu Limin deeply felt that injuries and age had seriously constrained the growth of the women's basketball team, and for this reason, he made a large-scale blood exchange. In addition to retaining a few veterans such as Shao Ting, Sun Mengran, and Huang Sijing, he began to reuse players such as Li Meng and Yang Liwei, and recruited young Li Yueru, Han Xu and Li Yuan into the national team.
At the same time, Xu Limin also continuously improved the will of the women's basketball team and mingled with the players. The walls of the training hall are hung with photos of the Japanese women's basketball team celebrating, dancing the "Little Apple" dance and the players eliminating the generation gap, the roaring players when the team's big score lead players relax, the "small farmer thoughts" spurring the players, and of course, the "hot blood chicken soup" again and again... Xu Limin, who frequently appeared in golden sentences, led the Chinese women's basketball team to continuously improve from the field to the field. Even in order not to affect the women's basketball team, Xu Limin, who broke his Achilles tendon before the Tokyo Olympics, also insisted on wearing protective boots and a wheelchair to ensure women's basketball training.
Under the leadership of Xu Limin, the performance of the Chinese women's basketball team is obvious to all. 2018 Asian Games champion, 2018 World Cup 6th revenge Japan women's basketball team, 2019 Asian Cup second (Li Meng and Sun Mengran are absent) but defeated Australia, 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournament three wins to lock in the Tokyo Olympic qualification in advance, 2021 Tokyo Olympics 5th (group stage first three wins, win Australia again), 2021 Asian Cup second... Compared with when he took over five years ago, the progress of the Chinese women's basketball team after Xu Limin took over is visible to the naked eye.
Of course, the Chinese women's basketball team also has regrets. For example, the final quarter of the Tokyo Olympic Games was reversed by Serbia, and the 2021 Asian Cup regrettably lost to the Japanese women's basketball team. But the Serbian women's basketball coach's sentence that "the opponent of this game is the best Chinese women's basketball team in the past 15 years" is obviously the best evaluation of the strength of the women's basketball team.
Today, although Xu Limin has left office, he has laid a solid foundation for the Chinese women's basketball team. Participating in last year's Asian Cup, the Chinese women's basketball team is changing blood again, replacing veterans Shao Ting and Sun Meng with Li Yifan (1998) and Yang Hengyu (1995) Then, the average age of the women's basketball team is only 24 years old, two years younger than the lineup of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which is also a valuable asset left by Xu Limin to the women's basketball team. The women's basketball team's official evaluation of "Xu Limin, especially after the Rio Olympic Games, successfully completed the replacement of new and old, excavated and cultivated a number of excellent players", which is also the best recognition of Xu's guidance.
The new women's basketball team is setting sail again
Although Xu Limin left office, from the current point of view, the Chinese women's basketball team is still the old team when he coached. From the acting head coach to the coaching staff team is almost the previous configuration, but a few new assistant coaches have been added to make up for the vacancy of Zheng Wei as the acting head coach (the former assistant coach of the women's basketball team) and Li Ke entering the CBA to coach the Ningbo team (the former assistant coach of the women's basketball team).
In the player lineup, many players who will participate in the training of the Chinese women's basketball team are also familiar faces, Wu Tongtong, Huang Sijing, Li Yueru, Li Yifan, Pan Zhenqi, Yang Liwei, Zhang Ru, Li Yuan, Wang Siyu, Yang Hengyu Gao Song, Han Xu, Li Meng have represented the Chinese women's basketball team in international competitions. At the same time, veterans Wang Lili and Jin Weina also returned to the national team, the former representing the Chinese women's basketball team in the 2018 Asian Games, and the latter representing the Chinese women's basketball team in the Asian Games (then the women's basketball team).
Of course, there are also "new faces" who have entered the women's basketball team's training list this time. Among them, Yang Shuyu, who represented the Chinese trio women's basketball team in the Tokyo Olympics and had a good performance in the 2021-22 WCBA season, entered the national team training for the first time, and Luo Xindan, a young player in 2001, was also selected for the first time. It is not excluded that the Chinese women's basketball team will continue to introduce new people in the next two years, but at least from the current point of view, the Chinese women's basketball team that is in transition will continue to use the old team, but appropriately adjust in individual positions, which will also ensure the smooth transition and stability of the Chinese women's basketball team.
At present, the Chinese Basketball Association has begun to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and has recently set up a national team construction committee, the purpose is to make the national team successfully enter the Paris Olympic Games and strive for good results. Before this, the Chinese men's basketball team has participated in the World Cup qualifiers first, starting the competition for the new Olympic cycle in advance, and the Chinese women's basketball team will obviously strive to continue the outstanding performance over the years, first qualifying for the 2022 Women's Basketball World Cup, and then strive to play a good performance in the 2022 Women's Basketball World Cup (September 22-October 1) and the 2022 Asian Games.
At present, the Chinese women's basketball team is still a combination of old, middle and young, and the main players are basically in the year of playing or have rich experience. Affected by the epidemic, the Chinese women's basketball team has participated in limited international competitions in the past two years, which has also affected the accumulation of experience in women's basketball competitions. In addition, the overall competitiveness of the WCBA is not particularly intense, which also has an impact on the performance of the Chinese women's basketball team in key games. Next, if we can seize the relatively valuable experience of the 2022 World Series to accumulate experience, if we can fill the vacancies left by Shao Ting and Sun Mengran, two veterans, on the front and inside lines, I believe that the Chinese women's basketball team can still strive for good results in the new Olympic cycle and move forward towards the goal of "a real world strong team".
epilogue
According to the official introduction of the Chinese women's basketball team, after Xu Limin no longer serves as the coach of the women's basketball team, he will transfer to the post of executive commissioner of olympic preparation and continue to play for the construction of the national team. Such a continuation is undoubtedly what fans hope to see, and xu Limin can continue to contribute to the women's basketball team.
In the past five years, Xu Limin has led the Chinese women's basketball team to climb to the peak of the world, allowing the Chinese women's basketball team to prove itself again, and has also won the recognition and support of the majority of fans. Now, the new Chinese women's basketball team will also have the courage to start again, as the girls themselves said, "We will definitely work harder, be more united, and strive to bloom in the Paris Olympic Games." ”