OLYW - Playing without pressure pays dividends for China

LONDON (Olympics) - The burden of expectation that weighed so heavily on China before the Beijing Games is nowhere to be found in London.

As hosts of the last Olympics, the Chinese were desperate to reach the knockout stages and then to play for a medal.

Under former coach Tom Maher, China claimed a fourth-place finish and had a positive Olympics.

After winning last year’s FIBA Asia Championship and bringing in a lot of young players into the squad, Sun Fengwu stressed the only aim of his squad was to play well.

They certainly did on Saturday, surprising the Czech Republic, 66-57, in the first game of the tournament.

“This year, we did a good job of focusing on the process,” coach Sun said.

“It’s much better than to focus on the results because it’s been a great help for our attitude towards training and games, our mindset, our mentality.

“It’s always better to do that than to focus on the consequences.”

China’s players looked relaxed against the Czechs, yet played hard.

“I think it’s helped a lot for our style of play in games, it helped us to show our skills and technical and strategy stuff,” he said.

By upsetting the Czechs, who are fourth in the FIBA Ranking for Women, China took a big step towards advancing from the Preliminary Round.

They will also take on Croatia, Angola, Turkey and the United States in Group A.

The top four sides advance to the Quarter-Finals.

FIBA