|
BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women's basketball team aim for a top eight finish at the Rio Olympic Games, head coach Thomas Maher told Xinhua here on Monday.
The team held their first practice session on Monday since returning from France, where they clinched an Olympic ticket in the qualifiers.
"Today is the first day back, and we have to be back to routine. We've got a list of things we need to correct from the Olympic qualifiers, so today we address three of these things. We keep moving these things to improve our efficiency in the game," said Maher.
In Rio, China has been drawn in Group B, along with defending champions United States, Spain, Senegal, Serbia and Canada.
"Our target is to finish in the top eight. That's not easy," said Maher.
"I think this team is a generation for the next Olympics, and this Olympics may be too early for this team. But this team has already made the Olympics, it's silly to make excuses and say that we will be ready in four-year time.
"We have a gold opportunity like this, and we have to take the opportunity and go as hard as we can. If we finish the top eight or go even further, we will be over the moon. You live your life trying to win every day, every game, every practice.
"We will try to win the gold medal, but obviously that's not a realistic goal. Our goal is to try hard every time and see what happens," he added.
China will fly to Canada on July 7 and play three warmup matches against the Canadian team, which they lost to 74-58 before the Olympic qualifiers.
"When we were playing against Canada, we were practicing against Venezuela, Belarus and Spain (in the Olympic qualifiers) and pretended that they are those teams.
"Now we will play our first Olympic game against Canada. That is the other way. Before we didn't spend our time preparing for Canada, but now we spend our time preparing for Canada. That's a big change, and that's a big effect," Maher said.
