CHENGDU (China) - The winningest women's ball club in all of Chinese Taipei basketball is out to rule the newest women's basketball contest in Asia.
The Cathay Life Tigers will be one of the pioneering teams of the FIBA Women's Basketball League Asia (WBL Asia) and without a doubt, they aren't flying out here in this city to just compete. To become its first-ever champions is their goal.
Can they do it? That remains to be seen, but there should be no doubt that they are coming in as one intriguing crew. How, and why? Let this piece explain as much.
History
Cathay Life has long established itself as an insurance company founded in 1962, but it would soon become synonymous to winning in women's basketball.
The Tigers are the most successful franchise in Women's Super Basketball League (WSBL history, having conquered nearly every season since the competition's inception in 2004. The team has won 18 championships - and counting.
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Path to FIBA WBL Asia
As mentioned above, Cathay Life have 18 championships to their rich collection, and it was only this year where they've hiked their number of titles to that amount.
After finishing second in the regular season, the team swept Taipower in the best-of-3 Semi-Finals, then beat Taiyuan Textile, 3-1, in the Final - but not before overcoming a tough stand by their long-time rivals in the title-clinching Game 4.
The Tigers needed five more minutes to outlast their foes and get the 90-86 victory for the crown, with Australia Opals standout Cayla George starring with a huge double-double of 16 points and 22 rebounds to bag Finals MVP honors.
Players to watch
While all the other three participating teams in the WBL Asia inaugurals are coming in with reinforcements, Cathay Life are set to field in all-local lineup.
Five of them, though, are national team players - namely Huang Ling-Chuan, Liu Hsin-Yu, Chen Meng-Hsin, Han Ya-En, and Cheng I-Hsiu. They were part of the Chinese Taipei team that finished 8th in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2023 in Australia.
Then, there's also their youngest in Hsiao Yu Wen, who's only 19. The same Hsiao that dominated the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup back in 2022, leading a special batch to another Semis trip on her way to earning a spot in the All-Star Five.
FIBA