China lost to the US 119-72 in their opening game at the 2006 FIBA
Women's Basketball World Championships in Brazil yesterday.
Altogether, 16 powerhouses around the world are competing in the
tournament running from September 12 to 23.
China, ranked six at the 2002 World Championships that they
hosted, set themselves a goal of entering the top eight despite
being drawn into the "Group of Death" with the US, Russia and
Nigeria.
Point guard Miao Lijie and center Chen Nan each nailed 17 points
for China with Chen on the verge of a double-double also grabbing
nine rebounds. Chen Xiaoli was the only other Chinese to tally
double figures, scoring 10 points during the loss.
For the US, Sue Bird contributed a game-high of 20 points while
Tina Thompson and Diana Taurasi added 17 points apiece for the
defending champions. The US dominated across the court, leading in
field goal percentage by 59 percent to China's 36 percent, and in
assists by 18 to 5.
Miao Lijie's 3-pointer and Chen Nan's fast break lay-up gave
China a 5-4 lead early in the first period. This would be their
only lead as Candace Parker hit two free throws to?complete a
10-0 run for the Americans, extending their cushion to 29-13 after
the first quarter.
Chen Nan scored a two-pointer and hit the ensuing FT two minutes
into the second period to help China cut the difference to 12 at
35-23. However, the US' WNBA stars rallied and accelerated the
game's pace igniting a 13-0 spurt, leading 62-34 into the locker
room.
The second half saw a wider gap between the two teams as China
trailed 96-56 after 36 minutes and the US reached a 50-point
cushion midway through the last quarter.
China's small forward Sui Feifei, who played for the Sacramento
Monarchs in the WNBA last year, didn't score, her play impaired by
her favoring of her recently injured ankle.
?
In the last decade, the Americans have performed a clean-sweep of
World and Olympic titles, and Chinese head coach Tom Maher said he
was satisfied with the Chinese girls' performance as they had
showed their spirit.
"Actually we are not a strong team at the moment because the
girls are so young and lack big events experience," said the
Australian, adding that China's goal is to win a medal at the 2008 Olympics. On the current 12-member roster
of the national squad, five players are rookies to the worlds: Song
Liwei, Liu Dan, Bian Lan, Jia Guang as well as Zhang Wei.
Tomorrow, China will take on Russia, runners-up of the 2002
championships. The Russian beat Nigeria 84-50 in their first game
yesterday. China drew 1-1 against Russia in a two-game series at
this summer's four-nation tour but these results were based on the
fact that five Russian starters, all WNBA players, didn't show
up.
According to the competition rules, the top three from each
group will qualify for the next round. Therefore, "the clash
between Nigeria and us would be a fight for living," Chen Nan
commented.
China's best performance at the FIBA women's basketball was No.2
in 1994.
Also on Tuesday, Canada outplayed Senegal 65-64, Brazil upset
Argentina 71-69, and Spain overpowered South Korea 87-57.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, September 13, 2006)
