Impressive twin towers as a sign: strong China is getting tough on Belgian cats | Basketball World Cup

On paper, Belgium and China have already been matched equally. Chinese ladies decorate 7th place in the FIBA ​​Rankingtwo steps under the Belgian cats.

It was China this spring Hanging in the World Cup Qualifierswhere it ranked first in a group with France, Nigeria and Mali.

Being the record holder in the World Cup for China 2 honorsAlthough from a different era. In 1983 the Chinese women won the bronze and in 1994 they won the silver after losing the final against Brazil.

In recent years, China has built a team that is now slowly working gradually towards the climax It appears to be evolving. The Chinese came to Sydney striving for a medal and would not be satisfied with anything else.

In a team with a huge deep bench, center Yuero Li (2.00m) and Xu Han (2.05m) are the most attractive players. The Chinese “Twin Towers”Both built in 1999, provide length under the back panels and allow China to control recoil in the majority of games.

Li and Han are both WNBA Experience. Lee even teammates with Julie Allmand and Emma Messman at Chicago Sky.

But China is much more than Li and Han. The Chinese are also very strong in guarding and forward positions. The true leader of the team is the shooting guard Meng LiHe is also the team’s top scorer in this tournament.

On the forward force, 1.90m large Sijing Huang, the best player in the World Cup qualifiers, also has everything to give her opponents a tough time. Huang has yet to excel in this tournament, but she is still an important link in a well-oiled Chinese machine.

The duel with China will be decided Who will finish the group stage as number 2. This is not unimportant, because the numbers 1 and 2 will soon be drawn against the numbers 3 or 4 of the other group, and therefore in principle you face a slightly easier opponent.

The question is how important this second place is. Both countries are already certain of the next round and potential opponents from the other group are more or less equal. Will there be a full fight for this second place or There is also some peace built in In light of what will come?

Belgium and China know each other through and through. In preparation, they played two practice matches against each other, in which Belgium could win one match and that without Julie Allemand and Emma Meesemann. They also met at the Olympics last year. Then China topped the group stage.

China really stunned this World Cup final With 3 convincing victories and a great game against the inaccessible America, in which the Chinese lost by “only” 14 points.

Anyway, this match will be for the renewed Belgian cats – which unfortunately will miss Messman after being injured – Scale To find out where they are now at the international level. Belgium’s defeat against the United States made sense, but a victory over such a powerful China would be a real statement, because at the moment the Chinese seem to be the main contender for the silver medal.