China's youth movement on full display at EABA Championship 2017
BEIJING (EABA Championship 2017) - With so much depth and size at their disposal, China can afford to send a very young squad to the EABA Championship 2017 that will be in Nagano, Japan from 3-7 June.
And even with youth on full display, China are expected to be highly competitive in the tournament, where there are 5 slots to the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 up for grabs. China have never won the EABA Championship, and by all indications they won't be the odds-on favorites in this edition, but that should not stop this young crew from turning a lot of heads.
They have an average age of just 18.8 years, but their average height is a staggering 1.99m. A number of them are fresh from playing in last year's FIBA U18 Asia Championship, where the Chinese had the best win-loss record at 7-1 but failed to make it to the top four after they were tripped by Iran in the Quarter-Finals.
| China 12-player roster for EABA 2017 | |||
| Guo Haowen | Hu Jinqiu | Man Jiang | Sun Minghui |
| Tang Jie | Taruike Jianiyou | Wu Yujia | Wu Xiao |
| Yang Kai | Zhao Jiayi | Zhao Yanhao | Zhu Rongzhen |
In the EABA Championship 2013, China had their best chance to win the title, topping their first round group and beating Japan in the Semi-Finals. They ran out of steam in the Final, though, where a resolute Korean quintet overpowered them, 79-68. China were spearheaded by the likes of Guo Ailun, Li Muhao and Wang Zhelin back then - all of whom are part of the senior pool for the next few years.
Perhaps the one to watch in this team will be Hu Jinqiu, who was born in 1997 and is one of the oldest players already. Hu has been active in China's national program since starring for their U16 team in 2013. He even played an all-important role for them in the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, where he averaged 17.9 points and 10.4 rebounds. Given his 2.10m stature and his uncanny skill-set, Hu is projected to be among the leaders of China in the foreseeable future, perhaps even the heir apparent to Yi Jianlian.
#FIBAAsiaChallenge Top 5 Performers of Day 4: Dar Tucker, Liu Cheng, Quincy Davis III, Mohammad Hussein, Jinqiu Hu pic.twitter.com/fuLSz17Tay
— baloncestovenezolano (@basket_criollo) September 12, 2016
China will play Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong in their group, while Korea, Macau and hosts Japan are in the other group. Only the top five teams of this competition will qualify for the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 that will be hosted in Beirut, Lebanon this coming August, and those same five teams will earn berths for the Asia Qualifiers to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, which begin in November.
FIBA
