Men's national basketball team cruise to East Asia semis in Nanjing
Tuesday, 14th June 2011 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Retired national team veteran Li Nan is on the bench for China at East Asian Championships
China romped over Hong Kong 104-43, allowing only 16 points in the first half. Then they rode their height advantage and South Korea's foul trouble to a 61-54 win Sunday. Three-point shooting was dismal for both teams — China shot 3 for 16, and South Korea 1 for 18.
The tournament, in Nanjing, is a qualifier for the FIBA Asia Championship September 15 to 25 in Wuhan. As host, China qualifies automatically. The team has an unfamiliar look right now, with several national team regulars resting and three players on the roster serving out a FIBA suspension. Zhu Fangyu (three games), Sun Yue and Zhang Bo (one game each) all were issued suspensions by FIBA for their parts in a bench-clearing brawl in a game against a Brazilian team last fall. Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, Liu Wei, Wang Shipeng, Ding Jinhui and Zhang Qingpeng are all being rested, leaving some younger players with the chance to get some more international playing experience.
As pointed out by Jon Pastuszek at Niubball.com, the chance for its starts to serve their suspensions with no real consequence for the team might be the best thing about this tournament for Team China.
Li Nan image: Osports.cn via Sohu.com
Tags: basketball, FIBA, Li Nan, Nanjing, Sun Yue, Zhang Bo, Zhu Fangyu
"Young" China team ousted from World Championships
Wednesday, 8th September 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
After a 1-4 start set them up to face one of the tournament's top teams in the knockout round, China made its exit from the FIBA World Championships (basketball) last night, losing to Lithuania, 78-67.The highlight of the tournament for Team China was the play of Yi Jianlian, who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds, and took it to the competition with some aggressive play inside. His performance has Washington Wizards bloggers buzzing about what he might bring to their team this year—but playing well in international tournaments has never been Yi's problem. It's when he goes up against NBA bodies that he seems to wither. And he's already a little banged up, sitting on the bench for China's game against Turkey with a sore Achilles tendon.
The low point of the tournament for Team China was a 47-point loss to Turkey. With Yi out of the lineup, China only managed to scrounge up an anemic 40 points—and just 6 and 7 in the first two quarters. Not surprisingly, the loss led to some questions in Chinese sports media as to whether new coach Bob Donewald is the right man for the job.
As he starts facing more scrutiny from Chinese media. Donewald is benefiting from a misguided "young and inexperienced" label placed on China by lots of sports media. It's true that they are playing without veteran centers Yao Ming and Mengke Bateer, and elder statesman Li Nan has finally traded his jersey for an assistant coach's polo shirt, but the average age for the starting lineup is over 27. And that's before you take into account the rampant downward adjustment of ages that goes on in Chinese basketball. All of the starters played in the 2008 Olympics, and four of them—Yi, Wang Zhizhi, Liu Wei and Sun Yue—have NBA experience (point guard Liu only played in some pre-season games, but the rest al signed with teams for the regular season). Despite all of that, most Chinese media describe the team as young—a convenient excuse for its 1-5 record in Turkey.
Next up for China is the Asian Games in Guangzhou this November. Yi will stay with the team through then, before returning to the Wizards.
Tags: basketball, Bob Donewald, FIBA, Li Nan, Liu Wei, Sun Yue, Wang Shipeng, Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian
China's upset-minded tennis team gets its draws
Thursday, 7th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
One of the last sports to determine its Olympic matchups, tennis finally held its draw Thursday night at the Swissotel in Beijing. China's best shot at a tennis medal is on the women's side where, despite lacking a player among the top 25 in the world, it has the maximum four players, all with the potential to pull off upsets.Zheng Jie (郑洁), the hottest name in Chinese tennis and the team's highest ranked player (38), will face Agnes Szavay (14, Hungary) in her first match. The two also played in the fourth round of Wimbledon earlier this year, with Zheng winning 6-3, 6-4.
Li Na 李娜 (43) plays Svetlana Kuznetsova (3, Russia); Peng Shuai 彭帅 (50) will face Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro (55); and Zheng's doubles partner Yan Zi 晏紫 (52) is matched up with Vera Zvonareva (11, Russia).
For highlights and interviews with these women, check out CST's tennis playlist on Youtube (below).
Zheng and Yan are a force in doubles, having won Wimbledon and The Australian Open in 2006. The pair open up against Daniela Hantuchova and Janette Husarova of Slovakia.
On the men's side, China's Sun Peng faces Fernando Gonzales of Chile. Yu Xinyuan, who got a spot in the tournament after Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany withdrew due to injury, will play Argentina's David Nalbandia.
Tennis play begins Sunday, August 10.
Related: China's Zheng making tennis history
Zheng's Wimbledon run continues
Zheng in Wimbledon quarterfinals (after Szavay match)
Zheng loses in Wimbledon semis
Tags: Beijing Olympics, Li Nan, Peng Shuai, Sun Peng, tennis, Xu Xinyuan, Yan Zi, Zheng Jie
Yao's comments on Artest, and China's basketball fights
Friday, 1st August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Ron Artest
The Houston Chronicle reported earlier this week that the Rockets were going to acquire forward Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings, bringing a much-needed scoring threat and a strong defensive presence to help Yao and Tracy McGrady.
Yao should have a simple response to a trade for a proven veteran who would give the Rockets one of the NBA's best trios and a shot at an NBA title: "Good move. I can't wait to play with him." Leave the speculating about Artest's past to the media.
But when Yao got word of the trade in Nanjing, where he is getting warmed up for the Olympics with the Chinese national team, he didn't sound too excited. Artest has been involved in some controversial situations, most famously a brawl four years ago at the Palace of Auburn Hills in a game against the Detroit Pistons, which resulted in Artest getting the longest ever NBA suspension for an in-game fight.
Apparently the fighting has Yao concerned. Here are his widely reported comments from Wednesday:
"There's worry. Obviously, yes. We will think about it, of course. Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands. I haven't talked to Ron yet, so it's hard to say. I have to find a way to talk to him and see what we can do as a basketball team. He has a history. But we know he is a physical player. He is a good player. He really can help us. And Ron is on a contract year, too. I think Ron Artest is a good player if coach (Rick) Adelman can control the team well."
The Rockets are Yao's team, but on this one he probably should have followed the lead of teammate Luis Scola, who is also in Nanjing playing with Argentina's national team and had a more positive reaction. "I don't know anybody that knows him personally. So I'm not gonna judge him for anything that I don't know," Scola said. "It's always a help. Great players are always welcome."
It should be noted that the guys Yao is playing with right now—the Chinese national team—have also been known to throw some blows when things get heated on the court. The team was involved in a fray in a game against Lebanon at the 2001 Asian Championships in which Li Nan, who is still playing with the national team, reportedly brandished a pair of scissors. Yao was on the bench at the time and not involved in the fight. More recently, and documented with video evidence, China had a good dust-up with Puerto Rico in the 2005 Stankovic Cup (56.com video).
Artest and Yao finally spoke yesterday, Artest said on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. "It was great," Artest said of the conversation, adding, "I can't wait to be a part of that team. I don't care if I have to come off the bench. I could be a sixth man, a seventh man. All I want to do is contribute and win a lot of games." Listen to the interview here.
Image: NBA.com
Tags: basketball, Houston Rockets, Li Nan, NBA, Ron Artest, Yao Ming
Australia puts Yi on lockdown en route to 67-55 win
Wednesday, 30th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Nanjing—Australia forced 23 turnovers, held Yao Ming (姚明) to 14 points and kept Yi Jianlian scoreless on its way to a 12-point win over China's men's basketball team Wednesday afternoon at the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament."We lost the game against Australia," Yao told FIBA after the loss. "They are a very good side but we didn't play well. We made many turnovers. We have a lot to improve on in a short time but we will do our best."
The team's second leading score was Li Nan (李楠), who is getting ready to play in his fourth Olympics with the team. The 31-year-old with the outside shooting touch had 11.
China lost point guard Liu Wei to an as yet unidentified injury in the first half.
Tags: FIBA Diamond Ball, Li Nan, Yao Ming, 姚明, 李楠
Yao Back in Beijing, China Wins 8th Straight
Thursday, 26th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Yao Ming returned to Beijing Wednesday and will report to practice Friday, according to several media reports. The Chinese men's national team got its second win over a Lithuanian team (this BOCOG report calls them Lithuania's "C team") the day before. Yi Jianlian had 26 points and five rebounds in the 110-92 win in Shenzhen.It's China's eighth win in a row, but the last three came over Croatia's B team, and the three before that came against a University of Memphis team that was missing its top three players. China won the first game over Lithuania "C" by a score of 87-70. Wang Zhizhi, Li Nan and Zhang Qingpeng hit three three-pointers apiece.
China, coached by Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas, has not actually decided its roster for the Olympics.
Tags: basketball, Li Nan, national team, Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Zhang Qingpeng