by Qin Yingying and Wang Jingyu
BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Despite falling short of expectations at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, China's head coach Qu Shaobin believes the tournament provided valuable experience and highlighted areas for improvement as the country's next generation of players continues to develop.
China finished 13th out of 16 teams with a 2-5 win-loss record. Missing several key players, including Li Yuezhou and Duan Ruiqi, due to injuries, the team was unable to achieve its pre-tournament goal of a top-12 finish.
"We saw what elite-level basketball looks like at this age," Qu said. "The physicality of U19 games is clearly a step up from U17, and playing against teams like Germany, Slovenia, New Zealand, and Canada gave us a sense of where we stand."
Qu highlighted poor rebounding as his team's most significant weakness, noting that China ranked second to last in this category among the 16 participating teams.
"We recognized this issue during last year's U18 Asian Cup and started addressing it in the training camp late last year, but our efforts were not enough," Qu explained.
He further pointed out that the problem goes beyond training methods, citing a lack of good habits, attitude, and awareness.
"In many youth basketball games in China, players tend to focus more on scoring and flashy plays than on defense, rebounding, or passing," he said. "Such instincts should ideally be cultivated from the age of 12 or 13."
Although China did not meet its goal, Qu praised the team's growing tactical awareness, especially on defense. The team experimented with various defensive strategies tailored to different opponents.
Another key lesson came in the 99-86 loss to New Zealand in the round of 16. After trailing by 20 points at halftime, China staged a comeback to cut the deficit to just one point late in the game but faltered in the final minutes.
"It was our most disappointing loss," Qu admitted. "We had them rattled, but couldn't execute under pressure. Still, the way we fought back showed that the gap is narrowing."
Despite the results, some players made notable impressions. Chen Jiazheng emerged as one of the tournament's leading sharpshooters, while Huan Sinan led all players with an average of five blocks per game.
Looking ahead, Qu believes some players from this group could join the senior national team in the near future, provided they remain focused and make the most of their development window.
"With the right attitude and planning, a few of them could become fresh blood for the national team," he said. ■
