China's men's basketball team announces 24-player training list

BEIJING -- Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) Wednesday announced a 24-member squad for the men's national training camp in September.

The training camp is slated between September 1 and 20, to prepare for the Olympic basketball qualifying tournaments and FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in 2021, and even develop a talent pool for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and the Olympic Games in 2024.

The squad is mainly composed of young players, with some prominent absentees such as Zhou Qi, Guo Ailun and Wang Zhelin.

CBA champions Guangdong Southern Tigers' trio of Hu Mingxuan, Xu Jie and Du Runwang are on the list, which also includes Zhejiang Golden Bulls guard Cheng Shuaipeng, Shenzhen Aviators duo of Shen Zijie and He Xining, and last year's top draft pick Wang Shaojie from the Beijing Royal Fighters.

Zhu Mingzhen, the second draft pick by the Guangzhou Loong Lions this year, earned a call-up as well.

"We have a lot of young players and some new faces this time. It offers us a chance to learn about and develop these young players, taking the future development into consideration," said the team's head coach Du Feng.

Du, also the head coach of CBA side Guangdong, revealed that the training camp will be divided into three stages.

"Players join the national team in different physical conditions, so the first week will be mainly about adjusting and getting to know each other. In the second week, we will have some contention. Then in the third week, we will pay attention to tactics and skills in a broader sense to help us coaches better know these players," he noted.

"20 days is not a long time for our training, but I hope everyone can gain something from it, and grasp the opportunity for a better future," Du said.