Han, Shao embrace new competition system as China move forward to FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments
AUCKLAND (New Zealand) - Shao Ting and Han Xu cherish the opportunities of the new competition format as China moves on forward to the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament next year.
AUCKLAND (New Zealand) - China didn't get off on the right foot as they might have desired in Auckland, but they were able to finish where they wanted nonetheless. After securing a win against the Philippines 127-49, China have successfully advanced to the next stage at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be held in February next year.
The FIBA Women's Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament is the start of the new competition format for women's basketball. Despite their opening loss to Korea in Auckland, China has gladly embraced the opportunity in these games.
"I think it's a nice chance because we have more time to play against other national teams," said China's star Shao Ting who averaged 10.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game in two games. "Before we would only play once a year or even less, but now we can play more."
Shao Ting helped China qualify for the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2020
"It promotes women's basketball, playing against [teams in Asia] and other countries for qualification to tournaments like the World Cup and the Olympics."
Rising star Han Xu, who spent most of the past year playing in the WNBA, echoed her veteran teammate's opinions on the revised format.
"The new competition system is great for women's basketball. We have more games so it's better for us as a team to grow and develop our competitiveness against different national teams," she said. Han finished her campaign in Auckland on a high note with 26 points and 9 rebounds. She also averaged 2.7 blocks per game throughout the event.
China now advance to one of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments from February 6-9, 2020, one they will be hosting in Foshan. Shao will most certainly be looking for that upcoming opportunity, which is one more step away from qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
"I think every team has more chances to fight for the Olympic games," she said. "It makes us more competent and we can have more chance to win tickets to the Olympics."
As they advance forward, China will get the opportunity to rise even higher in the new FIBA World Ranking Women presented by Nike. The new ranking system has China at 8th among teams all over the world and 2nd in Asia.
"The more games we have, the more opportunities we have to improve our ranking," said Han. "The team is still improving; the rankings will go up. We will continue to work hard and get a better ranking."
Like Han, 29-year-old Shao is just as determined to climb up the ladder of the best women's basketball teams in the world.
"We are always trying to improve our rankings and target the top spot, so we are never satisfied," Shao boldly said. "Because the goal is to be the best that we can be."
FIBA