'Lucky' draw for Chinese cagers at World Cup

Imaginechina

China got an easy draw for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, while Shanghai will host all three group-stage games of defending champions the United States.

The tournament will be held from August 31 to September 15 in eight cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai. The draw ceremony was held in Shenzhen, southern Guangdong Province, on Saturday, which was attended by tournament ambassador Kobe Bryant.

China, which is listed as a seeded team in Group A, will take on Venezuela, Poland and Ivory Coast. It’s considered a “lucky” draw since the strongest team in the group, Poland, is just 25th in FIBA rankings. China is 30th. The matches will be played in Beijing with the hosts taking on Ivory Coast on August 31.

The US has been drawn into Group E alongside Turkey, the Czech Republic and Japan. The defending champions will play their three group games at Pudong’s Oriental Sports Center.

Second-ranked Spain is in Group C with Iran, Puerto Rico and Tunisia. They will play their group matches in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Another city in the province, Shenzhen, will host Group G teams — third-ranked France, Dominican Republic, Germany and Jordan.

Group H seems to be the toughest with Lithuania, Australia, Canada and Senegal competing in the group stage in Dongguan, also in Guangdong.

Russia, Argentina, South Korea and Nigeria are in Group B, playing their group games in Wuhan, central Hubei Province. Angola, the Philippines, Italy and Serbia are in Guangdong’s Foshan in Group D. Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu Province, will host group matches for Greece, New Zealand, Brazil and Montenegro in Group F.

Chinese Basketball Association president Yao Ming had earlier set a goal for the men’s team — to become the best Asian team at the World Cup, so as to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and win at least one match there.

To achieve the goal, Yao revolutionized the men’s national team in 2017 by dividing it into two squads, led by two separate groups of coaches, and which represented China in international competitions by turn. It was meant to bring the best out of the players through competition.

Last September, the two teams were merged into one and Li Nan, one of the two national coaches, was named the new head coach.

“I just want the team to be ourselves,” Li said, when asked to comment on the draw. “Teams managing to make it to the tournament must have their characteristics. What we need to do is to prepare ourselves to the best (of our ability) and play the game in our way.”

It is the first time China will host the tournament, which is organized every four or five years. The 2019 edition will see an expansion in scale to 32 teams from the previous 24.