Difficulites stimulate young Chinese women's basketball team to mature

Huang Sijing reminded how South Korea edged out China at the FIBA Women's Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament for Asia and Oceania by 81-80, recalling that her team prepared for one month to strike back.

"We came here to win this game. We executed everything our coach prepared. We did very well today," she commented.

"We want to be one of the best teams in the world, so that is why we know importance of every game and we play every game very well," Huang explained.

China coach Xu Limin said that his team managed to keep the motivation after winning the Olympic ticket the day before with a victory over Spain, which was crucial in order to win the third match.

"We did good at this tournament, and for the team, it is like stepping into another level," he said and predicted a great future for his team.

He reminded the transfer of the tournament from Foshan to Belgrade, saying that it created difficulties, but also inspired the team, and "the difficulties help a young team mature faster."

Asked if his team can be the No 2 in the world, after United States, he said: "We are young, so we have this ambition. We show what Chinese basketball spirit is. We fight in every game, and that's why we have shown good performance. But we still have a long way to go and this is just the beginning."