China will have another chance to qualify for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup this week, and they will have the home fans cheering them on.
Gong Luming’s side will play five matches in seven days in the six-team tournament in Wuhan and need to finish in the top three to reach September’s tournament in Berlin.
Mali’s opening match on Wednesday will be followed by matches against Belgium, South Sudan, the Czech Republic and Brazil who have already qualified at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium.
Center Han Xu, a key member of the team, is available after finishing his season with the Perth Lynx in Australia, while Li Yueru, who plays for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings, is also back.
The return of Han and Li, along with Chinese Women’s Basketball Association pair Zhang Ziyu and Liu Yutong, means coach Gong has four talented players. Liu, at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 meters), is the shortest of the quartet, while Zhang stands at 7 feet 3 inches.
After the final warm-up win against the Czech Republic on Sunday, which followed two wins over Brazil, Gong said his team had a “world-class” frontcourt but admitted his players, particularly the backfield, needed to do better.
