Primed and ready for battle

Teen phenom rises

As perhaps the most fascinating prospect to watch at the Cup tournament, China's young, 2.26-meter-tall center Zhang Ziyu has navigated her senior-level international debut smoothly enough to raise instant expectations for her future career.

The 18-year-old Shandong native, despite being limited by coach Gong to only 12 minutes per night, has averaged 14.3 points — the most among all of the centers competing in Shenzhen — and four rebounds during the group stage.

Apparently not having displayed her full power yet, Zhang's imposing size and soft shooting touch around the rim have wreaked havoc in the paint, both offensively and defensively, leaving fans eagerly anticipating her performance in the semis should Gong give her more game time.

"She has a very special talent, and she puts tons of pressure on the opponents," Gong said. "However, she still needs to polish some areas of her game. She has a long way to go."

Opponents have taken notice, as well, after having to measure up against a towering threat so talented and so rarely seen in the modern women's game.

"I just heard the stadium got really loud. I see one really tall girl (Han Xu), and then I see another one, the really tall one (Zhang), and she's even younger than me," Indonesia's 19-year-old guard Bella Hasan recounted after facing Zhang for the first time.

"It was an interesting experience to see someone so young, so tall and so dominant in the game."

Zhang's own teammates are equally excited about her potential, and are wishing her a smooth, and most importantly, safe journey to maturity.

"She is very young, but very famous now," said fellow center Han, a former WNBA player and the 2023 Asia Cup's MVP.

"If we play on the court together, I can easily pass the ball from the high post to her, and that makes the offense so fluid. I am very excited to play with her for China here, and in more tournaments in the future," said the 25-year-old who played two separate WNBA seasons with the New York Liberty in 2019 and 2022.