9 Meng Li (CHN), 13 Mengran Sun (CHN), 5 Siyu Wang (CHN)
03/08/2021
Asia
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History in Tokyo as Women's Olympic Quarter-Finals welcomes three Asia Cup teams

 TOKYO (Japan) - The top teams of the Women’s Asia Cup are on a historic run here at the Tokyo Olympics.

China have gone through the Group Phase undefeated, even after facing both Australia and Belgium in Group C.

As hosts of the competition, Japan have also done well in their group by beating Nigeria and France while putting up a valiant effort against group winners USA.

Australia were also able to make their way through with a dominating win over Puerto Rico in the very last game of the Group Phase.

As a result, all three teams have now made it through to the Quarter-Finals of one of the most prestigious basketball events in the world. The Quarter-Finals will now feature three teams from the FIBA Women's Asia Cup and 5 from the rest of the world.

This also marks the first time ever that two teams from Asia have made it through to the Quarter-Finals in the Olympics in women’s basketball.

China aren’t strangers to playing in the Quarter-Finals of the Olympics. Ever since the tournament expanded to 12 teams in 1996, China have made their way through to become one of the last eight teams standing twice. Their best final standing in the 12-team era was on their own homecourt at Beijing 2008 where they finished in 4th place.

Additionally, prior to the 1996, China's women's basketball teams have won medals in the Olympics twice with a bronze in 1984 and a silver in 1992.

They could be on pace to make it to the Semi-Finals once again this year if they can keep up their spectacular play from the Group Phase. China were able to lock up their spot in the Quarter-Finals following their game against Australia which was an exciting and emotional win.

"Today we had a victory against the number two team in the world and it was a tough game, but all of our training and preparation paid off - it was all for the glory of this moment," coach Xu Limin said of the game.

The entire team has played exceptionally well, but it’s been the outstanding performance of Li Yueru that has really lifted this team up.

The 22-year-old center has been dominant in the paint through her first three games, averaging 15.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. Moreover, Li has missed a total of only 5 shots so far, resulting in a red-hot shooting percentage of 78.3 percent.

Japan are headed back to the Quarter-Finals for a second straight time in the Olympics. Rio 2016 was their first time of making it past the Group Phase where they eventually lost to gold medalists USA.

Now that they’re back and are also playing on their home-court, Japan not only have their eyes set on advancing to the Semi-Finals, but also on claiming the gold medal.

"My goal is still to win the gold medal,” coach Tom Hovasse said after their opening win against France. “I know there are people outside of our team that are doubters, but when I took this job five years ago, I said at the first press conference that I want to win the gold medal and that I want to play the USA in the title game.”

Japan play at one of the highest paces in these Olympics, while also being one of the best teams at not turning the ball over. This is the brand of basketball that coach Hovasse and Japan basketball have been trying to build and it’s spearheaded by talented point guards like Rui Machida.

For Women’s Asia Cup fans, it’s not news that Rui is one of the best passers in the game. She was able to showcase that skill to the world and put her name in the record books by tying the Olympics single-game assists record at 15 against Nigeria.

Australia, on the other hand, have made it through to all Quarter-Finals since 1996. This makes it their seventh straight appearance in this stage of the competition, a feat which the only other team can claim is USA.

They’ve had a rough start with tough losses to Belgium and China, but were able to beat Puerto Rico by just enough to claim the tiebreaker and advance to the Quarter-Finals.

The highlight for the Opals so far has been the play of 21-year-old Ezi Magbegor. The young forward has scored in double-digits through all three games to lead the team with 15.0 points per game.

Though the qualification of these three Women’s Asia Cup teams to the Quarter-Finals is already a historical feat in the Olympics, fans can be certain that they will not remain satisfied. Australia are in search of that first Olympics gold medal. China are in top form and are hoping that can take them through to win their first gold medal as well.

For Japan, having the chance to win their first ever women’s basketball medal in the Olympics at home would be quite an accomplishment… especially if it ends up being a gold one.

FIBA