China is going all-out in its first competition since its disappointing 24th place finish in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Headlining the team is the present and future of Chinese basketball in former NBA pro Yi Jianlian and G League Ignite commit Zeng Fanbo.
Yi stands at 6-foot-11, and played in the NBA for five years. He later went back to China to play for Guangdong Southern Tigers. The 33-year-old big man missed the 2020-21 season of the CBA due to injury, though.
Also part of the squad is Ignite’s latest talent from Asia in 6-foot-9 Zeng.
Zeng, who attended Windermere Prep for high school, decommitted from Gonzaga to join Ignite. The 18-year-old is making his national team debut.
Other Southern Tigers in the pool are CBA Finals MVP Hu Mingxuan, Zhou Peng, Ren Junfei, Xu Jie, and Du Runwang.
Co-CBA finalists Liaoning Flying Leopards are also well-represented with Han Dejun, Guo Ailun, Zhao Jiwei, and Zhang Zhenlin in the team.
Wu Qian, Lu Wenbo, and Yu Jiahao of Zhejiang are also part of the pool alongside Xinjiang’s Zhou Qi, Qi Lin, and Yu Dehao.
Completing the Chinese cast are Wang Zhelin, Sun Minghui, Zhao Yanhao, Shen Zijie, He Xining, Gao Shiyan, Liu Chuanxing, Wang Shaojie, Zhu Mingzhen, and Wang Quanze.
Du, Qi, He, Yu JH, and Wang SJ have been cut last weekend.
China has yet to play a single game in the Asia Cup Qualifiers that is why it will play four games in five days. They take on Japan on the 16th, Chinese-Taipei on the 17th, Japan again on the 19th, before closing their campaign against Chinese-Taipei on the 20th.
China will also compete in the Victoria Olympic Qualifying Tournament from June 29 to July 4.
