CHN - Game against Americans a good building block

SEATTLE (Olympics) - China coach Sun Fengwu is keen to stress the positives when he talks to the media, and the fact that his national team is in a period of transition with the London Games less than three months away.

The winners of last year's FIBA Asia Championship for Women, the Chinese have a long way to go in terms of improvement if they are to match their terrific run of 2008 when the team reached the Semi-Finals under former boss Tom Maher.

They were brushed aside in their friendly with the United States in Seattle over the weekend.

"Our team is a pretty young team," the Chinese coach said.

"We have good size, height, and our body conditions are pretty good.

"We have good shooting ... our players can shoot the ball very well."

The Chinese are going to struggle against the Americans in London after being drawn to face them in Group A, along with Angola, the African champions, and three sides that come out of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women in Ankara, Turkey.

Those three sides could be European outfits, too, as all four of the teams from the old continent at the OQT in Madrid four years ago made it to Beijing.

"Compared to the European teams, our disadvantages are strength, speed, and physical contact," Sun said.

China believe it's important to go up against the best, as they did against the four-time defending Olympic champions on Saturday, in their preparations.

"These games will be a great help to our team," Sun said.

"After last year’s USA trip, we went back to Asia and won the Asian Championship so we have the tickets for London.

The leading scorer of the 2008 Olympics was Lijie Miao, who poured in 17.9 points per contest in front of the home fans.

The 30-year-old small forward didn't play against the Americans in their exhibition game.

"For the seniors, they need time to have their bodies recover and make sure their bodies will be in shape so it was very important for them (to rest)," the coach said, "but at the same time for the young girls, it’s very important to get them in the game for game experience.

"Some of the young girls are panicky in big games."

The most impressive offensive performance for China came from a player who is experienced.

Zengyu Ma, who averaged 12.7 points per game last summer at the Asian Championship, is 29 and she drilled all four of her shots from long range en route to a game-high 20 points.

FIBA