Farewell to Vienna_Guangming.com

Xinhua News Agency, Vienna, June 5th Title: Farewell to Vienna

Xinhua News Agency reporters Liu Yang and Liu Xinyu

“This is three-person basketball. When someone is injured, the balance of fair competition begins to tilt.” Xu Jiamin, the head coach of the Chinese three-person women’s basketball team, explained the unique “helpless charm” of this sport. In the 2023 FIBA ​​Three-on-One Basketball World Cup that just ended in Vienna, the Chinese team rarely encountered such helplessness.

On the last match day on the 4th, the Chinese team that has reached the semi-finals has two games: if they win the semi-finals, they will enter the finals to compete for the championship; if they lose, they will compete for the bronze medal. In just two 10-minute games, accidents happened one after another, which made the Chinese three-person women’s basketball team, which was originally aiming for the championship, have to leave with regret, without taking away a medal.

The game received a lot of media attention. According to the FIBA ​​three-person basketball news official, many foreign media have asked FIBA ​​and the local organizing committee of the event to interview Chinese players after the game.

The Chinese team attaches great importance to this game. After the quarter-finals on the 3rd, Wang Lili, Zhang Zhiting, Wan Jiyuan, and Zhang Yi didn’t even care about stretching. They sat around in the narrow athlete’s aisle and watched the American team’s performance on TV. The game is live.

As the champion of the Tokyo Olympics, the US team sent a completely different lineup this time. The Chinese team has never played against this lineup. Zhang Zhiting said frankly: “This is a new challenge.” Facing a strong opponent, the Chinese team “encountered an accident” in just two minutes of the opening game. Zhang Yi, who participated in the World Cup for the first time, was injured and ended up. She tried to get back on the field, but fell again. The injury did not allow her to continue, and the fitness coach carried her back to the stands. She focused on the game more than her injured knee.

The three-man challenger, unable to take turns, bit the score to 10:11. The U.S. team’s 9:2 offensive did not give the Chinese team a chance to comeback. As the bronze medalist of the last World Cup, the Chinese team faced their old rival Australia and embarked on the road to defend the honor of the third place.

What are the odds of three against four? Wan Jiyuan told reporters that she has never encountered such a situation in her three-person basketball career, especially in the medal battle of the World Series, the difficulty can be imagined.

Judging from the warm-up state before the last game, Wang Lili, Zhang Zhiting, and Wan Jiyuan looked relaxed, and even interacted with the children on the sidelines, as if they were not troubled by accidents. Xu Jiamin adjusted his tactics in time, did not get entangled, lightly confronted, scored in the simplest and most efficient way, and reserved limited physical energy for offense to ensure the hit rate.

The girls did it, and the score always suppressed the opponent. Chai Wensheng, the leader of the three-person basketball national team, exclaimed in surprise: “I didn’t expect them to play so well, and the tactical play arranged by the coaching staff was fully implemented. We have played 2v4 before. The Chinese team has never lacked fighting spirit in adversity!”

The European audience at the scene all turned to support the Chinese team.

When the Chinese team led at 20:17, only 1 point away from victory, the second accident happened. Whittle of the Australian team hit two consecutive two-pointers, and the Australian team beat the Chinese team at 21:20.

Everything came too suddenly. The Chinese players surrounded the referee and repeatedly communicated next to the technical bench. They believed that the last two-point goal was controversial: the opponent’s attack time was up, and the ball should be exchanged. The Chinese players did not defend this shot, and the goal should be ruled invalid. After a long discussion between the referee and the technical referee, they decided to maintain the original result and the Australian team’s goal was valid.

The Chinese girls couldn’t accept it, and they hugged each other and wept. They thought that they might encounter various problems, even if they lost, it would not end in this way.

In this World Cup, players from Israel, China’s first opponent in the group stage, came from the stands to the players’ channel after the game to comfort the frustrated Chinese girls. They were not only impressed by the technical and tactical level of the Chinese team, but also praised the never-give-up spirit of the Chinese three-person women’s basketball team, and even offered to assist the Chinese team to appeal to the referee team and the organizing committee.

In Xu Jiamin’s eyes, the team victory is more important than the individual technical statistics of the players, and more important than the victory is the player’s tactical execution and the spirit of encouraging each other and standing up in adversity.

“Although the result cannot be changed, the performance of the girls in this World Cup is worth 100 points for each.” Xu Jiamin said, “Lili has always been the core of the outside line. Zhang Yi joined to help her share the ball when Lili needs a buffer. The pressure of position. Yuanyuan and Zhiting are very good inside players, they cooperate with each other tacitly, are excellent in offense and defense, and know how to create opportunities and find gaps in the opponent’s defense.”

The long season is not yet halfway through, and the Chinese team, which is fighting for points and qualifying for the Paris Olympics, will not be obsessed with the gains and losses of a certain game or two. Luck will eventually favor those who work hard.

On the 5th, the Chinese three-person women’s basketball team took the opportunity to leave Vienna and head to France to prepare for the next women’s series.

“The current lineup has received relatively good results, but the annual points competition cannot be completed with only 4 players. We need more players, produce more lineups, test more combinations, and fans will see more changes Now clean up your mood and start again.” Xu Jiamin said.

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责编：刘希尧 ]