In the U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup, the Chinese team defeated Japan 97-81 in the final round of the group stage, won three consecutive victories to advance to the semifinals and locked the 2025 World Youth Championship place. And the most eye-catching performance in this campaign is naturally Zhang Ziyu, who is 2.20 meters tall, with 44 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists in 20 of 22 shots, leading the team to a big victory over Japan.
Zhang Ziyu's individual performance in the U18 Women's Basketball Asian Cup is dominant, averaging 33.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, 45 of 51 in total, and a shooting rate of 88.2%, she has blown up all opponents. It can be seen that Zhang Ziyu's personal strength far exceeds that of her peers, she and these peers are not in the same strength dimension at all, overseas media are full of praise for Zhang Ziyu's performance, and even some American media have predicted that Zhang Ziyu will land in the WNBA in 2027.
Due to Zhang Ziyu's excellence, some domestic netizens deliberately ran to the comment area of national player Li Meng, calling on the national team to recruit Zhang Ziyu into the team as soon as possible, so that you can feel the intensity of the confrontation in the adult competition in advance.
It is a pity that it is difficult for Zhang Ziyu to enter the national team in advance, because the Chinese women's basketball team is currently training in Europe in order to prepare for the Paris Olympics, and the Chinese Basketball Association has submitted the 16-person preliminary list for the Paris Olympics, including Zhang Ziyu. For this reason, Zhang Ziyu is determined to be unable to participate in the Paris Olympics and cannot feel the atmosphere of the Olympic competition in advance.
What the outside world needs to know is that Zhang Ziyu not only has a height advantage, but also has a soft shooting feel, in this game against Japan, the opponent tried 3 people or even 5 people in many rounds, the purpose is to affect Zhang Ziyu's mentality and feel through enveloping tactics, but Zhang Ziyu is completely unaffected, and even shows eighteen kinds of martial arts in the process of the game, with low-post hook hands, as well as free throw line shots, strong finishing ability, and is not affected by the opponent's defense at all. This is enough to reflect Zhang Ziyu's high talent, in addition to the height of 2.20 meters, there are delicate basketball skills, after all, Zhang Ziyu's parents were both professional basketball players, and she has good basketball genes, not purely by height.
Professional basketball is a team sport, as a center, Zhang Ziyu needs to do more than just score, her blocking, rebounding and strategy are also remarkable, this is the reason why she will be infinitely optimistic, with the increase in age and training intensity, Zhang Ziyu will become stronger, when she is faster, better physical fitness, better confrontation, I believe that the world basketball will give birth to a new super inside!
(Lin Xiaoxiang)