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Chinese basketballers cherish experience through "Death Group" in Rio

Xinhua, August 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chinese men's basketball team head coach Gong Luming hoped that their team can gain valuable experience through the "Death Group" as the team arrived here for the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.

"We feel no pressure. This is a valuable experience for Chinese basketball, and we cherish that a lot. We can learn about how far we are away from those top-level teams," said Gong.

China have lost to the United States, Australia and hosts Brazil during the past ten days in their build-up for the Olympic campaign.

But Gong said that these warmup matches taught the team a good lesson in terms of what they lack against these strong opponents. Undoubtedly, that was a huge help in their preparation for the Olympics.

"We have been in the crucial phase of our preparation. The warmup series helped us a lot, and gave more experience to our young players," said Yi Jianlian, a former NBA player.

With an average age of 23, China were placed in Group A with defending champion USA, Australia, Venezuela, Serbia and France. They will kick off their campaign against the "Dream Team" on Saturday. Endit