In the final round of the 2024 Women's Basketball Olympic Qualifying Tournament, on February 12, Beijing time, the Chinese women's basketball team showed an outstanding performance in the women's basketball qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympic Games, defeating the Puerto Rico women's basketball team by an overwhelming margin of 36 points and successfully confirming its qualification for the Paris Olympic Games. The strong strength of the Chinese women's basketball team in the qualifying round is eye-catching, and the players' fighting spirit and tacit cooperation have won countless applause for the team. This team is the first team of the Chinese women's basketball team to qualify for the Paris Olympics in the three major ball events, fully demonstrating the strength and future potential of the Chinese women's basketball team.
Although the Chinese women's basketball team showed impressive strength in this game, it also exposed several problems, including lack of tacit cooperation and failure to give full play to their respective advantages. The reason for this is mainly due to the improper use of the player's skills, including many passing errors, poor offensive scoring ability, weak interior shooting ability, etc. In order to prepare more effectively for the Olympic Games, we need to optimize and refine these issues in the following training and competitions.
After the match, Li Meng shared this opinion on her personal social **: In the matchup against the top teams in the world, we have gained valuable experience accumulation and the opportunity to correct mistakes. In the face of challenges and shortcomings, we can all find practical solutions, have the courage to innovate and take responsibility, and I am confident that we will perform very well, see you in Paris!
In a high-profile match in Group D, world No. 5 Canada faced off against Japan. In terms of global rankings, Canada's strength is even more prominent, and as a strong team in the Americas, its competitive strength is quite good. On the court, the Canadian team and the Japanese team had a fierce battle. This matchup has become a life-and-death battle between the two teams, with a win qualifying for the Paris Olympics and a losing event putting it in jeopardy.
At the beginning of the game, Saori Miyazaki scored 2 points on a layup, and both teams were quite intense. At 6-6, Maki Takada scored 2 points on a layup, Fields scored 3 points on a jumper, Canada led 12-10, and Hayashi Saki scored 2 points on an aerial relay. The next game was a 17-17 tie, and it was a very tight game, 20-20 to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Kawai** scored 2 points on a layup, while Colley made a mistake on the dribble. Carlton scored a 3-pointer on a jumper, and Saori Miyazaki hit both free throws. Japan led 30-29, with Mauli and Arjunwa hitting 3-pointers and 2 on jumpers, respectively, and Alexander's layup for 2 points. Japan led 44-39, with both free throws from Yamamoto and Lisabeth Carlton and Yamamoto scoring a 3-pointer to give Japan a 50-44 lead to end the half.
In the third quarter of the game, Ajunwa scored 2 points on a layup, while Carlton scored 2 points on a jumper. Both teams made relatively more free throws, resulting in frequent fouls and the score became 58-58. Maully also scored 2 points on a layup, and Yamamoto shot 3 points from the field to give a 63-58 lead. Although Canada quickly tied the score, fouls and mistakes followed. Japan made five free throws in a row, and Mauri hit a 3-pointer on a jumper.
There was no clear difference in the scores between the two teams, with Japan taking a 75-74 lead before Canada tied it at 79-79. Saori Miyazaki hit a 2-pointer on a layup to take the lead again and eventually beat Canada by a surprise score of 86-82.
In the entire match, Japan's top scorer Mauri contributed 21 points, while Canadian top player Elizabeth Carlton scored 19 points. Looking at the statistics of both teams, Japan had 23-45 rebounds but were clearly behind, with assists at 16-14 and steals and blocks very close. Japan made just four mistakes, compared to Canada's 15. Japan was particularly good at three-point shooting, hitting 7 of 20 shots for 35 percent, while Canada hit just three of 13 shots.
In the last game of the group stage in Brazil, the German women's basketball team defeated the Brazilian women's basketball team by a narrow margin of 2 points. Subsequently, the German women's basketball team successfully advanced to the Olympic qualification round of the women's basketball team at Paris 2024, and achieved a record of 2 wins and 1 in the group stage. Unfortunately, Brazil failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics with three consecutive defeats. In this match, the German women's basketball team became the biggest dark horse, ranking lowest in the group, and defeated two strong opponents in a row.