In their first match of the European training tour, the Chinese women's basketball team lost to their opponent, exposing quite a few issues. Gong Luming immediately led the team to review and fix things, but the team's rebuilding will still take some time.
With a final score of 76–88, the Chinese women’s basketball team lost its first game of this European training camp. In this match
against a European powerhouse, the team’s outside shooting was generally off, they lacked players who could step up and take charge in crucial moments, and their defensive vulnerabilities on the wings were glaringly obvious.
As soon as the team returned to their base
after the game, Coach Gong Luming wasted no time in calling a debriefing meeting with the entire squad. He systematically addressed specific issues from the game, such as poor rebounding and defensive lapses, one by one. He then contacted the Italian team to finalize arrangements for a closed-door practice game,and the team immediately threw themselves into targeted drills to address these issues, without a moment’s pause.Longtime fans
familiar with Coach Gong Luming’s leadership style know that his consistent coaching philosophy is to identify problems and correct them immediately—he never engages in superficial, empty gestures. The principles he established earlier for the Women’s Basketball World Cup—aggressive defense and composed offense—have always been put into practice and have never fallen short.
The Chinese women’s basketball team is indeed facing significant challenges
at the moment. Two key players, Han Xu and Li Yueru, returned to the team relatively late, leaving limited time for the squad to practice together. Li Meng has not yet rejoined the team, and the forward position was already short-handed.Deng Yuting has traveled to the U.S. for personal matters, creating another gap in the already thin forward lineup. Coupled with a lack of consistency in three-point shooting and young player Zhang Ziyu’s lateral movement speed still needing improvement, these long-standing weaknesses in the team are difficult to fundamentally resolve through short-term, ad hoc adjustments.
Many longtime fans who have followed the women’s national basketball team for two or three decades have always hoped the team would continue to improve. Even today, memories of the players giving their all on the court during the era when the Chinese women’s national team won the world silver medal still evoke deep admiration.
Moving forward, the team’s development must not only address the immediate issues exposed in recent games but also focus on the long term by building a solid youth system and strengthening the roster’s capabilities, advancing all efforts step by step.
As for whether the team can return to its peak form, it is still too early to draw any definitive conclusions; the rebuilding process of the Chinese Women’s National Basketball Team will require time to yield results.
As fans who have long followed the team, rather than anxiously urging them on, we should give the players a little more patience to grow and the coaching staff a little more time to make adjustments, so that together we can witness this team taking steadier steps toward greater success.
