China News Service, Xi'an, February 3 (Reporter Zhang Yichen) From Belem, Brazil to Sopron, Hungary, and from Antwerp, Belgium to Xi'an, China, the 2024 FIBA Olympic Women's Basketball Qualifying Tournament will be held simultaneously in the four major competition areas on February 8. On the evening of the 2nd, the Chinese women’s basketball team arrived in Xi’an. It is exciting to see how the Chinese women's basketball team, which has performed well in competitions in recent years, will go straight from Xi'an to Paris.
The picture shows Wang Siyu, a member of the Chinese women’s basketball team. Data photo taken by Zhang Yichen
This Olympic Women's Basketball Qualifying Tournament in the China Division will produce three Olympic tickets. The Chinese Women's Basketball Team's opponents in the same group are the French Women's Basketball Team, New Zealand Women's Basketball Team and Puerto Rico Women's Basketball Team. Since the French team is the host of the Paris Olympics and has advanced ahead of schedule, the Chinese women's basketball team, the New Zealand team, and the Puerto Rico team will present a "3-for-2" situation, and the last team in the group will miss the Paris Olympics.
The Chinese women's basketball team is currently ranked second in the world, the French team in the same group is ranked seventh, the Puerto Rico team is ranked 12th, and New Zealand is ranked 23rd. It is not difficult to see from the FIBA rankings that in this group, the Chinese team has a clear advantage in terms of strength. Coupled with the home court advantage, the Chinese women's basketball team has taken the lead on the road to Paris.
On January 31, as the first team in the group to arrive in Xi'an, the New Zealand women's basketball team received a warm welcome at the airport. New Zealand team member Stella Baker is looking forward to competing with the Chinese women's basketball team. "The Chinese women's basketball team is a strong team in the world, and we have played against each other before. In order to achieve good results in this Olympic qualifying tournament, we have been training for a week before coming to China, hoping to show the team's best condition and level in the game. "
The New Zealand women's basketball team's style of emphasizing physical confrontation and using fast breaks to counterattack is quite similar to that of its "neighbor" Australia. Currently, in the absence of three main players, how the New Zealand women's basketball team can respond through tactical and personnel adjustments may become the winner of the game.
On January 31, the New Zealand women’s basketball team arrived in Xi’an. (Photo courtesy of the Media and Publicity Department of the Event Organizing Committee)
New Zealand team coach Guy Molloy previously said that the absence of key players will have a greater impact on the New Zealand women's basketball team. But with the big game coming soon, the team can only use its existing personnel to prepare for the game. "For us, last year's huge loss to the Chinese women's basketball team in the Asian Cup group stage is a thing of the past."
The French women's basketball team is the bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and the number one rival of the Chinese women's basketball team in this group. In the quarter-finals of the 2022 Women's Basketball World Cup, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated its opponent 85:71. In the European training in June 2023, the Chinese women's basketball team lost to France 63:76 in the absence of several core players. It is worth mentioning that the French women's basketball team has no performance pressure on this trip. It remains to be seen what strategy and mentality the team will use to face the game.
The Puerto Rican women's basketball team is a traditional strong team in the Americas and achieved a good result in second place in the Americas Women's Basketball Olympic Qualifying Tournament. In 2022, the Chinese women's basketball team and the Puerto Rican women's basketball team met in the Women's Basketball World Cup. At that time, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated their opponents with a score of 95:60. Recently, FIBA’s official website listed nine stars worthy of attention in this Olympic women’s basketball qualifying tournament. Puerto Rico’s core player Arela Guilantes was among them. FIBA’s official website commented: “She leads the history of Puerto Rico. Having made it to the quarterfinals of the Women's Basketball World Cup, fans can expect to see her impressive performance now that Puerto Rico is eager to reach the Olympics again."
As the backbone of China's "three major" women's sports, the Chinese women's basketball team has won the runner-up in the Women's Basketball World Cup, the Asian Cup and the Asian Games in the past two years. The outstanding performance of a group of players such as Han Xu, Li Yueru, Wang Siyu, and Li Meng ensured the competitiveness of the Chinese women's basketball team in the international arena. Fighting at home this time, "Fearless Golden Orchid" aims at Paris.
A few days ago, the head coach of the Chinese women's basketball team Zheng Wei said that the three opponents in the same group have different styles and characteristics. Although the New Zealand team and the Puerto Rico team are ranked behind the Chinese team in the world, their strength cannot be underestimated. There are no weak teams in the Olympic qualifying tournament, and the Chinese women's basketball team needs to be prepared. (over)