Ready to show redeeming quality

Wielding her exceptional size and power, Zhang bullied her way to 17 points on 74 percent shooting against more experienced opposition, also adding seven rebounds in 12 minutes per night in her first four games at the senior level, posing an intimidating threat in the paint.

Coach Gong prudently kept Zhang on the bench during the following two scrimmages against Australia to manage her workload.

"She's tired and she needs to recover. She's got tremendous potential for sure, yet we don't want to push her too much," Gong said of his decision to rest Zhang.

"We train her with a tailor-made program, and we hope she make slow, but steady progress. She's a future star for Chinese women's basketball."

Team Australia, as a red-hot title favorite in Shenzhen, has paid heavy attention to Zhang, despite not seeing her in action during the warm-ups.

"It will obviously be a different game when she comes on because of her size, definitely," Aussie head coach Paul Goriss said when asked about the imposing young center.

A runner-up at the 2022 FIBA World Cup, Team China is approaching the Shenzhen tournament as the first major step on a journey of redemption, following its disappointing Paris Olympics campaign, which saw the team, tipped for a podium finish, suffer an early exit at the group stage.

Zheng Wei, who led the team to World Cup silver, resigned after the Paris 2024 setback, with Gong, who led the women's team to back-to-back continental crowns at the 2001 Asian championships and 2002 Asian Games, returning for a second stint at the helm.

Drawn into Group A at the four-team Shenzhen tournament, Team China will open its home campaign against Indonesia on Sunday, followed by back-to-back games against South Korea and New Zealand on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, in the preliminary phase.

The top team in each group advances into the semifinals directly, with the second- and third-placed teams fighting for the two remaining berths in the final four through a playoff round.

Over the past 30 editions of the Asia Cup, formerly the Asian championships, Team China is tied with South Korea for most titles with 12 apiece, double that of their nearest competitor, Japan, which has six gold-medal finishes, five of which came consecutively from 2013-21.

At the last edition in 2023, China denied Japan's attempt for a sixth straight title with a narrow 73-71 win in the Sydney final.

Jiang Xinyu contributed to this story.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn