At 22:00 Beijing time on February 10, the Chinese women's basketball team will usher in the first game of the women's basketball World Cup qualification tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, against the Nigeria women's basketball team. This is also the first official appearance of the Chinese women's basketball team in 2022.
The last time the Chinese women's basketball team participated in an international competition was in October 2021. At the Women's Basketball Asian Cup at that time, the Chinese women's basketball team finally won the runner-up, and the head coach was still the meritorious coach Xu Limin.
The Chinese women's basketball team that is now out has become a different team. In the appointment of the Chinese Basketball Association in early January, Xu Limin stopped serving as the head coach of the Chinese women's basketball team due to physical reasons, and transferred to the post of executive commissioner for Olympic preparations, continuing to play for the construction of the national team. Zheng Wei, the former assistant coach of the national women's basketball team, is the acting head coach.
In terms of player lineup, the Chinese women's basketball team brought 14 people this time, so as to ensure that there is a more adequate rotation in the World Cup qualification match, it is worth mentioning that Shao Ting and Sun Mengran, veterans who have played for the women's basketball team for many major competitions, have left the team since the Tokyo Olympic Games because of the alternation of new and old, and did not participate in last year's Asian Cup, and this time did not go out with the team.
The 14 players who went out were: Han Xu, Li Yueru, Huang Sijing, Li Meng, Li Yuan, Pan Zhenqi, Wang Siyu, Wu Tongtong, Yang Liwei, Zhang Ru, Wang Lili, Yang Shuyu, Gao Song and Jin Weina. The first 10 people all participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games, and the last 4 were local adjustments in the lineup of the Chinese women's basketball team. Although it is not difficult to qualify for the World Cup in this World Cup qualification tournament (a total of 4 teams in the group, the first three can be qualified), the Chinese women's basketball team after the change of coach still strives to maintain stability and take a solid step after going out with a new look.
Compared with the Nigeria women's basketball team, the first opponent of the World Cup qualification tournament, the strength of the Chinese women's basketball team occupies a clear advantage. The Chinese women's basketball team is currently ranked 7th in the world and 15th against its opponents. In the FIBA official world cup qualifier team strength list (a total of 15 teams, Belarus withdrew due to the new crown infection of players), the Chinese women's basketball team ranked 4th, and Nigeria ranked 9th. Moreover, Nigeria's main defender Karoo was absent due to a knee injury, which made the balance of victory more inclined to the Chinese women's basketball team.
Historically, the Chinese women's basketball team and Nigeria have played each other very few times in international competitions, and the only time the two teams have played each other in international competitions is the 2006 World Championships, where the Chinese women's basketball team won 71-59.
In the first game of this World Cup qualification tournament, the goal of the Chinese women's basketball team is not only to make a good start and make a good start for this expedition. There is also an opportunity to test the team's training results and run-in team, especially the test of the team's defender line. In this game, Nigerian backcourt Am kamala will be the core of the team's outside line, and she averaged 10 points and 2.7 assists per game at the Tokyo Olympics, making her team's third scorer.
Defenders who represent the Chinese women's basketball team this time, such as Li Yuan, Yang Liwei, Wang Lili, Wu Tongtong, and Wang Siyu, have obvious characteristics and different styles, facing Nigerian defenders with different playing styles, the Chinese women's basketball team backcourt, which has been insufficient in control errors in the previous two major competitions (Tokyo Olympic Games and Asian Cup), can also take this opportunity to check and fill in the gaps.
The Chinese women's basketball team is expected to start:
Li Yueru, Huang Sijing, Li Meng, Yang Liwei, Li Yuan