RIGA (2015 FIBA Asia Women's Championship) - After her exploits at the FIBA Women's World Championship last year it seems inconceivable that Ting Shao has yet to step out for China at the FIBA Asia Women's Championship.

China's forward played with so much maturity and flair in Istanbul that it has almost been forgotten that it was a debut tournament in national team colours for Shao.

Her rapid rise to prominence has catapulted her into a newfound status as a team leader, having not enjoyed the luxury of easing her way into the international scene at the senior level.

Following on from her success on Turkish soil, Shao is continuing to turn heads with her performances.

After another highly productive campaign in the WCBA when her popularity rocketed, she continues to impress for her country and was the star of the show as China took down Latvia 67-63 in a preparation tournament in Riga.

Shao poured in 19 points in the win as China not only beat the hosts, but followed up their eye-catching success 24 hours earlier against another EuroBasket Women 2015 competitor in Belarus.

However, the newest star of Chinese women's basketball isn't getting ahead of herself - even if she provided the main source of adulation for a small but noisy band of China fans, who watched their team find success in the Latvian capital.

That is because she fully appreciates there is a long way to go until she is the finished product at the highest level - even if she did light up the highlights reel in Turkey.

"Through the national team's training and particularly in the technical and tactical aspects of personal development last year, I improved a lot," mused Shao.

This year I have re-entered the national team more mature than last year, but I still need to continue to learn. - Shao

"It will be my first time participating at the FIBA Asia Championship.

"Last year at the FIBA World Championship I had my first experience against European and American players who fought with experience.

"So this year, I am looking forward to a fight against only Asian players.

"Each team will compete for first place and that is certainly the goal.

"I think it is important to prepare for the process, although now we should focus only on the current training and our warm-up matches."

Now in their sixth week of preparation under the watchful eye of veteran play-caller Tom Maher, China are determined to recapture their Asian crown after losing it to fierce rivals Japan two years ago.

They will have home advantage and local support behind them in Wuhan when the action takes place from 29 August-5 September and they also won't be pinning all of their hopes on Shao.

Other players are also stepping up and rapidly becoming influential factors.

The likes of Mengran Sun is imposing herself and she evidenced that with a classy 18 points when China went down in their opening game against Latvia.

Indeed the pair are rapidly developing into a lethal partnership in the paint and the duo could prove to be the primary source for success later this year.

FIBA