China Women’s National Basketball Team Loses Initiative for Group First, Strong Progress Becomes Steep

On July 28th, the Chinese women’s national basketball team lost to Spain in the Olympic group stage by a score of 89-90. The team had initially dominated the game, but critical fouls by Wang Siyu and Yang Liwei led to their eventual downfall. After this defeat, China has lost the initiative to secure the group first place, and advancing to the quarter-finals now presents a significant challenge.

According to Olympic rules, the top two teams from each of the three groups, as well as the two best third-place teams, will advance to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, the eight teams will be divided into four tiers based on their group stage results. The top-tier teams will only face the fourth-tier teams, and so on. If China had won the group first, it would have likely avoided strong teams like the United States, France, and Australia.

However, with the Chinese women’s national basketball team’s loss to Spain in this match, we have lost the initiative to secure the group first. Even if they win the last two matches, they could still end up as the second seed. This scenario might result in them being placed in the third tier, potentially facing teams like Australia or France, making the prospect of advancing to the semi-finals very bleak. Of course, the more immediate concern is that they must defeat Serbia; otherwise, even if they advance, they are certain to face a top-tier team.