CHENGDU (China) - In the inaugural edition of the FIBA Women's Basketball League Asia (WBL Asia), there will be no shortage of stars aligned to shine at the games which will be played from September 26-28 in Chengdu, China.
That should not be surprising as the teams in the playing field are among the league champions and elite in their respective countries whether it's Fujitsu Red Wave from Japan, Cathay Life from Chinese Taipei, Sichuan Yuanda Meile Basketball Club from China, and Surabaya Fever from Indonesia.
Here are just some of the stars you can expect to see in the upcoming historic competition!
MVP
You can't go wrong with having the most recent TISSOT MVP of the FIBA Women's Asia Cup highlighted as your team's star, but that's exactly what Sichuan Yuanda will have lined up in Xu Han.
Not only was the 24-year-old center of the champions China named the TISSOT MVP, she was by far among one of the most dominant MVPs ever. She led the Women's Asia Cup in scoring and rebounding while also scoring at an insanely efficient rate to the tune of 22.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks per game on 61.0 percent shooting from the field and 64.3 percent shooting from the three-point line.
Who else can't wait whether or not she can do that again in the first-ever WBL Asia?
And another one
What's better than one MVP? Two MVPs! And Sichuan could have that in Meng Li.
The 1.83M (6'0") forward might not have won a Women's Asia Cup TISSOT MVP yet, but she has been named an MVP of a FIBA competition and at the global level back in 2010 at the U17 Women's Basketball World Cup. China earned a historic bronze medal in the first-ever edition of that competition and Li was named MVP after averaging 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.
Li, of course, was also a part of the squad that won the Women's Asia Cup in 2023 where she averaged 14.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per contest.
Winners
If that's not enough, Sichuan could potentially have not just not two, not three, but five Women's Asia Cup champions. Aside from Han and Li, the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) champions might also have Siyu Wang, Weina Jin, and Song Gao who all played in Sydney in 2023.
Moreover, Gao is also a two-time Women's Asia Cup champion, having also won the competition in 2011 as well.
Though Han, Li, Wang, and Jin have only one Women's Asia Cup so far, they were a part of the China national team squad that won silver at the Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 which was also in Sydney.
Needless to say that Sichuan Yuanda should be a team that certainly knows how to win.
Not alone
The Chinese champions aren't the only team expecting to parade championship-caliber players. Women's Japan Basketball League (WJBL) champions Fujitsu Red Waves, could also have four Women's Asia Cup winners on their roster as well.
Team captain Yuki Miyazawa is not only a veteran on this team, but a national team veteran. She made her senior national team debut in 2013 and since then has won an outstanding four straight Women's Asia Cup titles. One of her most impressive runs was in 2019 when she was named to the All-Star Five and averaged 12.8 points and 9 rebounds per game.
Another multiple-time champion is sharpshooting Saki Hayashi who won the Women's Asia Cup with Japan in 2019 and 2021. She's been one of Japan's deadliest shooters, as evident from her campaign in Women's Asia Cup 2021 where she scored 10.8 points per game on 45.2 percent three-point shooting.
Then there's also the up-and-coming Kiho Miyashita. The 25-year-old forward also won the Women's Asia Cup along with Hayashi in 2021, her senior national team debut. It was quite an impressive debut in general for Miyashita as she ended up pouring in 27 points in her first game on 10-13 shooting from the field.
History makers
Did we forget someone from Fujitsu Red Wave?
No chance. That was also just for dramatic effect, as you just cannot forget a talent like Rui Machida who will be assuming the lead guard role for Fujitsu.
You might know Machida from her greatest hit "Dishing out 18 dimes to set the single-game assist record and lift Japan to first ever Olympic Gold Medal game" from back in 2021. It was quite a memorable moment in basketball history - not just Japanese basketball history - before AKATSUKI JAPAN finished with their historic silver medal which Machida won alongside Miyazawa and Hayashi.
She's recently coming off an appearance at the Paris Olympics (as were some of the other players already mentioned here) where she ended up as one of only 5 players to pass at least 100 assists, ranked at 3rd with 115.
Of course, Machida also won three Women's Asia Cups in 2015, 2017, and 2019, as if she needed more on her resume to cement her status as a star to watch at the WBL Asia.
Get ready to see those dimes drop in Chengdu.
Rising Star
It's not only about the proven stars in WBL Asia. There are also rising stars to keep an eye on as well. In particular, there's a good chance that we'll see Yu Wen Hsiao playing for Cathay Life in the upcoming games.
Hsiao has yet to play on the Chinese Taipei senior national team, but her accomplishments at the youth level are already head-turning. The 19-year-old had a massive 39-point, 15-rebound double-double (for 48 EFF) in her very first game playing for the national team at the U18 Women's Asia Cup in 2022, followed that up by another double-double for a historic win against China, and would later post a 20-point, 23-rebound double-double (for 45 EFF) to beat New Zealand and qualify for the U19 Women's World Cup. She'd end up among the All-Star Five of the competition after averaging 19.2 points and 13.5 rebounds per game.
At the U19 Women's World Cup in 2023, she'd still put up impressive numbers of 15.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
It will be interesting to see her go up against some of the best players in Asia if she gets the opportunity to do so here with Cathay Life.
Underdogs
The Surabaya Fever might not have household names of the Asian women's basketball scene just yet, so this is their chance to make some noise.
Granted, some of the expected players that will be rostered have already begun to get some attention. For instance, there's Surabaya Fever lifer Agustin Elya Gradita Retong who shined for Indonesia as they won the Women's Asia Cup 2023 Division B to gain promotion for the upcoming edition of the Women's Asia Cup 2025. Retong led all players with 38 assists over 5 games - good for 7.6 dimes per contest and displayed inspiring leadership for the Indonesian national team.
FIBA