China defeated Japan 73-71 in the women’s basketball Asian Cup final women’s basketball and returned to the top of Asia after 12 years. On the 4th, China Women’s Basketball returned home triumphantly. I interviewed Zheng Wei, the coach of China women’s basketball. Zheng Wei revealed that before playing the final, she always wanted to say to all the players: “If we can’t win this final, then a group of players in our team may miss the Asian Cup championship forever.” However, Zheng Wei did not say this sentence at that time, and she was worried that extra pressure would be formed. “But I know that the whole team knows this.” Zheng Wei said.
Beijing Youth Daily (hereinafter referred to as Beiqing daily): Before the Asian Cup, China encountered great difficulties women’s basketball, including the injury of the main player Wang Siyu, the late return time of Han Xu and Li Meng from WNBA, there are also some new players joining and so on. How does the team view this Asian Cup?
Zheng Wei: this is indeed the case. It is very difficult for China to prepare for the Asian Cup in women’s basketball. Two WNBA players Han Xu and Li Meng, on the one hand, there are not many matches played in the season, and their status is unknown; On the other hand, we have more wounded, Li Yueru, Huang Sijing, wu Tongtong couldn’t play, and Wang Siyu was also a serious shoulder injury after the league ended. Therefore, in the process of preparing for this war, one of our hemispheres was newly added, and they should quickly adapt to this attack and defense system. Moreover, some players, such as Yang Shuyu and Luo Xinyu, are playing international games for the first time. The goal we set at that time was to enter the top four, ensure the qualification of the Olympic qualifier, and then strive for the best results. We said to the players at that time, try to gradually improve the state to the best level after the group match, in order to play the game behind.”
Beiqing daily: Han Xu performed very well in the Asian Cup this time, but her appearance in WNBA season is limited. Have you ever worried about her status?
Zheng Wei: there was such a worry, because after all, she didn’t play for a while, which was very unfavorable to maintain her state. Moreover, during the WNBA season, there was not much training at ordinary times. During the season, we have communicated many times and I have been reminding her. Of course, Han Xu is very professional. She has been working overtime to train.
Beiqing Daily: How to evaluate her performance?
Zheng Wei: in the first two games of the group match, she didn’t feel very good, but later she played South Korea, and she gradually got better. In this process, the coaching staff also helped her adjust more and gave her confidence, and she was also very determined to play a better state. In the third session of the group match, Han Xu played a strong performance in the face of South Korea’s Park Zhixiu. In fact, before the match with the South Korean team, we were already the first in the group, but we still played this game with full lineup, and don’t let the game have any deviation. This also laid a good foundation for Han Xu to lay a good foundation for the semi-finals and finals. In my opinion, after the training of last year’s World Cup, Han Xu has improved his psychological adjustment and leadership on the court.
