“This is three-person basketball. When someone is injured, the balance of fair competition begins to tilt.” Xu Jiamin, the head coach of China’s three-person women’s basketball, explained the unique “helpless charm” of this sport “. At the 2023 FIBA three-person Basketball World Cup just ended in Vienna, the Chinese team encountered such helplessness rarely.
On the last match day of the 4th, the Chinese team who entered the top four had two matches: if the semi-final wins the US team, they will compete for the championship in the final; If they lose, they will compete for the bronze medal. In just two 10-minute games, accidents occurred one after another, which made the three Chinese people who originally intended to be the champion women’s basketball have to regret leaving without taking a medal.
The media attention of this game is very high. According to the three-person basketball news official of the International Basketball Federation, many foreign media proposed to the International Basketball Federation and the local organizing committee of the tournament that they would interview Chinese players after the game.
The Chinese team attached great importance to this game. At the end of the quarter-finals on the 3rd, Wang Lili, Zhang Zhiting, Wan Jiyuan and Zhang Di didn’t even care about stretching and sat around the narrow athlete channel, I couldn’t take my eyes off watching the live broadcast of the American team’s game on TV.
As the champion of Tokyo Olympic Games, the US team sent a completely different lineup from that of the Olympic Games. The Chinese team has never played against this lineup. Zhang Zhiting said frankly: “This is a new challenge.” In the face of a strong enemy, the Chinese team “suffered an accident” in just two minutes at the beginning, and Zhang Wei, who participated in the World Cup for the first time, was injured. She tried to return to the game, but fell again. The injury did not allow her to continue, and the physical coach put her on the stand. She paid more attention to the stadium than her injured knee.
The Chinese team, which was unable to rotate and met with the three men, clenched the score to 10:11. The US team’s 9:2 offensive did not give the Chinese team a chance to turn over. As the bronze medal winner of the last World Cup, the Chinese team faced the old rival Australia and embarked on the road of defending the honor of the third place.
How is the odds of three people playing four? Wan Jiyuan told the reporter that she had never encountered such a situation in her career of three-person basketball, especially in the medal battle of the World competition, the difficulties can be imagined.
From the warm-up state before the last match, Wang Lili, Zhang Zhiting and Wan Jiyuan looked relaxed and even interacted with the children on the court. It seemed that they were not troubled by accidents. Xu Jiamin adjusted the tactics in time, did not entangle or fight lightly, scored in the simplest and most efficient way, and left the limited physical ability to attack to ensure the hit rate.
The girls did it, and the score always suppressed the opponent. Chai Wensheng, the leader of the three-person basketball national team, shouted with surprise: “I didn’t expect them to play so well, and the tactical play arranged by the coaching team was fully implemented. 2 play 4 we have played before, and the Chinese team never lacks fighting spirit in adversity!”
The European audience on the scene fell to support the Chinese team.
When the Chinese team took the lead at 20:17 and was only 1 point short of victory, the second accident happened. The Australian team Whittle hit two two points in a row, and the Australian team killed the Chinese team at 21:20.
Everything came too suddenly. The Chinese players surrounded the referee and communicated repeatedly next to the technical table, believing that there was a dispute over the last two points: the opponent’s attack time had arrived and the ball rights should be exchanged. The Chinese players did not defend this shot, the goal should be invalid. After a long discussion between the referee and the technical referee, they decided to maintain the original result and the Australian team scored effectively.
Chinese girls are hard to accept and cry with each other. They thought that they might encounter various problems. Even if they lost, they would not end up in this way.
The player of Israel, the first opponent of the Chinese team in the group match in this World Cup, came to the player channel from the stands after the game to comfort the depressed Chinese girls. They were not only convinced by the technical and tactical level of the Chinese team, but also praised the spirit that the three Chinese people never gave up women’s basketball. They even offered to assist the Chinese team to appeal to the referee Group and the organizing committee.
In Xu Jiamin’s eyes, what is more important than players’ personal technical statistics is team victory, and what is more important than victory is players’ tactical execution and the spirit of encouraging each other and standing up in adversity.
“Although the result cannot be changed, everyone deserves 100 points for the girls’ performance in this World Cup.” Xu Jiamin said, “Lili has always been the core of the outside line. Zhang Yi joined in and helped Lili share the pressure of holding the ball when she needed a buffer. Yuan Yuan and Zhi Ting are excellent insider. They cooperate with each other and have excellent attack and defense skills. They know how to create opportunities and find the opponent’s defense gap.”
The long season has not been more than half, and the Chinese team, which strives to score points and strive for the qualification of the Paris Olympic Games, will not stick to the gains and losses of one or two games. Luck will eventually favor people who have been working hard.
On the 5th, the Chinese trio left Vienna women’s basketball and went to France to prepare for the next women’s series.
“At present, this lineup has received relatively good results, but points race of the year cannot be completed by only four players. We need more players, produce more team matches, test more teams, and fans will see more changes. Now pack up your mood and start again.” Xu Jiamin said.
(WEN/Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Yi, Liu Yuyu)