BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- One of the hottest topics among Chinese basketball reporters recently is what is the real target of the national men's basketball team at the Beijing Olympic Games. Li Yuanwei, vice president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and director of the Chinese Basketball Management Center, said the goal at the Olympics is to advance to the quarterfinals.
(L to R)China's Yi Jianlian, Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi attend the kickoff ceremony of the game between China and Angola at the Stankovic Cup basketball Olympic warmup tournament in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, July 19, 2008.
It would have been the fourth time that China enter the top eight after they finished eighth at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics as well as the 1994 World Championships, if they could fulfill the goal. Most people don't think it is good enough for the highly-expected men's basketball team at the Games, considering the first-ever Olympic Games in China this summer.
Tickets of Olympic basketball matches are the most wanted on the Internet besides tickets of the opening and closing ceremonies and finals of the men's 110 meters hurdles, which is expected to feature defending gold medallist and local favorite Liu Xiang.
Price of the tickets of the men's basketball final match has vaulted to over 10 times of the original price.
Basketball has arguably become the most popular sport in China as soccer was haunted by corruptions, match-fixings and misbehaviors of footballers on and off the pitch.
The Chinese fans have huge expectations of the national team at the Beijing Olympics as it is the first time that NBA players Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian and former NBA player Wang Zhizhi join force at the Games.
China's NBA star Yao Ming looks for a pass during the game against Angola at the Stankovic Cup basketball Olympic warmup tournament in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, July 19, 2008
Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is one of the most dominant pivots in NBA. He has recovered from a foot surgery, which needed four-month recovery and ended his season earlier, and joined in the national team last month. "I want to have better results than the eighth place at the Beijing Olympic Games. I think the sixth is what I'm looking for," Yao said during a tele-conference to Asian and American journalists in May.
NBA rookie Yi Jianlian proved the most dangerous shotgun during a series of warm-up series, which China won 10-0.
He averaged 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in his rookie season with the Milwaukee Bucks and was traded to New Jersey Nets on June27.
Former Miami Heat forward Wang Zhizhi is a quality backup pivot. This is his first Olympic after he was kicked out of the team in 2002 when he refused to answer the call for the World Championships.
"I do want better results this time (at the Beijing Olympics). But for now, I think to enter the quarterfinals is realistic," Li Yuanwei said. "World basketball has improved a lot in the past four years. It'll be more difficult to get into top eight than the Athens Olympics in 2004."
China was bracketed with world champion Spain, Athens Olympics' bronze medallists the United States, Angola, and two qualifiers.
The host team has never beaten Spain and the U.S., so it has to defeat all the other opponents of the preliminary round to ensure better results than the eighth.
Now all the Chinese fans are waiting for some miracles to the host team.
Emperor/empress 和 king/queen 的区别
Dictionary and other words 与“词典”相关的近义词
Improving your vocabulary 增加词汇量
Take part in, join in, participate, attend 四个表示“参加”的单词或短语
Objective and purpose 目标和目的
Commend 和 recommend 的区别
Burn a hole in your pocket 一有钱就想花
Practical and pragmatic “实用的”两个词的区别
Labour, labourer, workforce, worker 与“工作”相关的四个单词
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Europa moon 'spewing water jets' 木卫二表面“喷射出水汽”
Dressed to the nines 衣冠楚楚
Work your socks off 拼命干活
Greetings after a short break 小别后的问候
Almost, nearly, more or less “差不多”的三个近义词
Infer vs conclude 两个易混词
Passion and enthusiasm 两个词的区别
Limit 和 restrict 的区别
Butterfly numbers drop a mystery, say experts 英国蝴蝶数量下降现象令专家费解
At sixes and sevens 乱七八糟
So far 的用法
Revise and review 的区别
Football and soccer 两个词的区别
Lose one's shirt 输得一干二净
Tasmanian devil milk fights superbugs 袋獾乳汁可对抗“超级细菌”
Parcel, sack, box 包裹类词语
Knock your socks off 叹为观止
Different types of ‘tissue’ 不同种类的“纸巾”
Shade or shadow? “阴”和“影”的区别
Teenager, adolescent, kid and child 英语中“孩子”的几种说法
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