Gold medalist team China celebrate in the podium during the medal ceremony for the women’s final basketball game between Japan and China at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on October 5, 2023. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP)
China women’s basketball coach Zheng Wei said familiarity was the key after the host retained its Asian Games title with a thrilling 74-72 win over old rival Japan on Thursday.
The Chinese took a big early lead and looked to be cruising towards gold in Hangzhou only for Japan to chip away at their advantage and draw level late on.
The packed crowd turned tense as Olympic silver medalists Japan began to turn the screw, but China held their nerve and Wang Siyu sank the winning shot with seconds remaining.
Zheng said she knew from experience that Japan was not out of it until the final buzzer.
“We have played against Japan lots of times and it’s rare that one of us leads by a big margin,” she said.
“We were a little bit rushed in the second half — we had a few turnovers and the players became a little bit fatigued, but we stuck to our game plan.”
China’s women gave the home fans a tonic 24 hours after their men’s team crashed out in the semi-finals with a last-gasp defeat to the Philippines, disappointing the basketball-obsessed home nation.
Another disaster looked like it might be on the cards when Japan drew level for the first time with just under three minutes remaining.
A huge three-pointer from Li Yuan eased China back in front before Wang settled it with a lay-up on the final attack.
“We had good preparation and we knew that Japan were very tough and resilient, but we were confident and that’s why we won the game,” said Li.
China fielded 6ft 8in (2.03m) Han Xu and 6ft 7in Li Yueru, giving them a huge height advantage.
Han, who has been compared to eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming, scored 10 points while Li bagged 13. Both were outscored by team-mate Li Meng, with 17.
Both teams will now immediately turn their attention towards qualification for the Paris Olympics.
“Playing in big games like this is good experience for us and we will try to make good use of that at the Olympics,” Japan coach Toru Onzuka said.
‘I felt nothing’
South Korean players celebrate their victory against North Korea in the women’s bronze medal basketball game between North Korea and South Korea during the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on October 5, 2023. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP)
South Korea cut neighbors North Korea and their giant center Pak Ji Na down to size to win bronze with a 93-63 victory.
Pak, who stands 6ft 9in, scored a game-high 27 points but it was not enough.
A unified Korea women’s basketball team won silver at the last Asian Games, in 2018.
They were among three unified Korean teams, along with rowing and canoeing, at those Games.
Thursday’s bronze-medal game featured four players from the 2018 team, two from each side.
“It was nice to see them again,” Park Ji-su, who was part of the 2018 team, told Yonhap news agency.
“But after that I felt nothing special as they were just like players from other countries.”