Clubbing together for the good of the game

High-quality drills and a clash of styles on the global stage — an emerging continental club tournament has breathed new life into the talent development of Chinese women's basketball.

From a record-tying runner-up finish at the 2022 FIBA World Cup, to an early exit at the Paris Olympics, China's celebrated women's basketball program has suffered a sharp performance decline on the international stage, with the lack of quality and intensity in the country's domestic league taking a toll on player development.

The inaugural APAC Women's Basketball Challenge, though, has provided Chinese players with much-needed exposure to international competition at club level, with two WCBA teams — Guangdong New Century and Beijing Shougang Great Wall — clashing with South Korea's Seoul Seodaemun and New Zealand's Tokomanawa Queens over four days of round-robin play from Sept 27-30 in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province.

Hosted by Realeague, the tournament brought together the best women's clubs from across the Asia-Pacific region, creating a rare opportunity for intercontinental exchange in the women's game that is expected to contribute to talent growth and the promotion of women's basketball in each participating country and region.

"The APAC Women's Basketball Challenge is a great start, because we have the same goals to push Asian basketball onto the world stage," Huang Sijing, acting head coach of Guangdong New Century, said after leading the club to victory at the tournament, with a final win over Tokomanawa Queens on Sept 30.

"We don't take these opportunities for granted and hope to see more high-level teams competing in the future. Only by playing more matches against high-level opponents on the international stage can our players, especially the youngsters, grow and mature," said Huang, a current Chinese national team forward who took a part-time coaching role at the tournament in Haikou.

Boasting a strong roster that featured several Tall Ferns, as the New Zealand national squad is known, the Queens gave Guangdong New Century plenty of challenges in the final, forcing Huang to play her national teammates Yang Shuyu, Dilana and Chen Mingling longer than expected to secure an 83-63 win in the final.

"It's an opportunity to connect with teams from abroad. I believe this opportunity to be highly rewarding for us," said Yang, who along with Huang competed at the Paris Olympics this summer.

"For our team, it has been a valuable experience competing in this tournament. We really appreciate the opportunity to play and learn from other clubs."

Despite losing all three of its games at the tournament, Seoul Seodaemun's head coach Park Chan-sook summed up her team's campaign at the tournament with quite a positive takeaway.

"This was a great test for our team, and I think the APAC Women's Basketball Challenge is a great experience for all involved. We hope to see more strong teams from South Korea participate in future competitions," said the legendary former South Korean national team center.

A global perspective

Even with only four clubs involved, and some of the region's best players unavailable to play due to scheduling issues, the debut edition of the APAC challenge has paved the way for more international drills, which are crucial for player development in today's game.

The lack of competition at home, with the majority of national team players divided between two clubs in the 21-team league, has slowed the progress of some of China's best players, resulting in a collective performance slump at the Paris Olympics.

After posting only one win and two losses in its group, Team China, coached by Zheng Wei, was eliminated from the 12-team Olympic tournament in Paris at the pool stage, failing to enter the quarterfinals and finishing with its second-worst Olympic result of 9th place, only one place better than the all-time bottom finish at 10th in 2016.

It happened just two years after the same team defied long odds to finish runner-up at the 2022 Women's World Cup in Australia, losing narrowly to the United States in the final.

The return of several former WNBA players, such as starting center Han Xu and prolific forward Li Meng, from the competitive, yet lower-paid, North American league to their comfort zone in the domestic league was widely considered a major cause of their decline.

Now with WCBA clubs embracing international challenges, such as the APAC tournament, players and coaches have set high expectations for improving their game, while gaining more experience in the global spotlight.

"I think we need more of these kinds of tests to sharpen our players' craft and open their eyes to the evolving international game," said Huang.

Ge Xuan contributed to the story.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn