07-September-2006

The 12-man roster for Team China is out

Before the game with Australia, China Basketball announced the 12 man roster for FIBA world championship in Japan. This roster is a little different as the rumor saying; Despite questions and arguments, Guangdong’s Chen Jianghua joined the team, Beijing’s Xie Libing and Fujian’s Gong Songlin are out.

In the prediction from medias, Zhang Song-Tao was at the edge of being selected. Consider that Yao Ming is not fully recovered and Wang Zhizhi is not consistent, coach Jonas Kazlauskas decided to keep Zhang Song-Tao in the team. Coach Jonas Kazlauskas said, "I have to consider Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi’s injuries, so I need more post players. To be honest, I did not think Zhang Song Tao had a chance in the beginning of the training. But he improved very fast during these two months. Recently when he is in the game, he performs his best. Also, we have to consider that Yao Ming is returning to NBA, but we are still going to Asia Tournament, we need players like Zhang Song-Tao."

Team China’s 12-man roster:
#4 Chen Jianghua; #5 Liu Wei; #6 Zhang Qingpeng; #7 Wang Shipeng; #8 Zhu Fangyu; #9 Sun Yue; #10 Zhang Songtao; #11 Yi Jianlian; #12 Mo Ke; #13 Yao Ming; #14 Wang Zhizhi; #15 Du Feng.