China core remains intact for U17 Worlds despite U16 disappointment
BEIJING (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - China head coach Wang Jianjun has called back nearly the entire roster from last summer's FIBA Asia U16 Championship for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship, despite a major disappointment a year ago.
Wang nominated 10 of the 12 players from the Chinese team that lost for the first time in the history of the FIBA Asia U16 Championship and had to settle for a third-place finish. All told, the play caller named a 15-man preliminary squad for the FIBA U17 World Championship.
| China 15-player squad for 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship | |||
| Bai Haotian | Chen Peidong | Han Yufeng | Huang Rongqi |
| Jia Hao | Li Xiangbo | Liu Zeyi | Liu Yuxuan |
| Wang Yibo | Wang Rui | Wu Yujia | Xu Jie |
| Zhao Yanman | Zhao Jiaren | Zhu Rongzhen | |
The top 10 players in Wang's team from Indonesia are back, led by the core of 2.10m center Zhu Rongzhen, all-around wing talent Bai Haotian, sharpshooter Huang Rongqi and captain Wang Yibo.
China sent most of this group to the 2016 Albert Schweitzer Tournament - which featured 1998-born generation of players - in late March and the diminutive 1.77m 2000-born playmaker Xu Jie really stepped up his game with 11.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals.
2000-born playmaker Xu Jie is becoming a leader for China.
Among the players new to the group are low post players Liu Yuxuan and Liu Zeyi, who stand 2.08m and 2.03m, respectively.
Liu Zeyi has already made inroads into the team as he played at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany, just like Jia Hao and Chen Peidong, who were not on the U16 team but included on the 15-man squad.
FIBA
