China tries to gain traction in its basketball World Cup

BEIJING (AP) — The China men’s basketball team was woeful at the last two Olympics. It went 0-5 three years ago in Rio de Janeiro, and had the same abysmal record in 2012 in London.

Now there’s a big chance to make amends at home.

The two-week basketball World Cup opened on Saturday across China with the host team playing Ivory Coast in the capital Beijing on the first day.

“We lost all our games and came back. It was disappointing,” China coach Li Nan said of Rio. “This year we’ve put a lot of effort into preparing for this tournament and we want to show — with some adjustments and with the same core group of guys — that we can compete on the international level.”

Though early tournament games are spread across eight venues, much of the focus is on Beijing. China plays its initial group games here, and it’s also the site of the semifinals and final.

“China basketball has very high expectations for this tournament,” Li said.

China has tried foreign coaches — Americans and Europeans — but turned back inward to find success.

Conditions are favorable for China if it can exploit them. Its four-team group is modest with Poland, Ivory Coast and Venezuela. It avoided any powerful European teams in the draw like Serbia and Greece. And home crowds should help push it to be among the group’s top two teams who advance to the second round.

Remnants of Beijing’s 2008 Olympics are major backdrops for the World Cup, though the tournament is on a much smaller scale and swallowed up by a sprawling city around which there are only a few indications the event is going on.

A well-known soccer fan, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a lavish opening ceremony on Friday at the Water Cube, the 2008 swimming venue where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals. Former NBA and China star Yao Ming showed off the Naismith Trophy — it goes to the winner — and shared the stage with dancers, singers, and acrobats.

Across town, the venue built for basketball — originally called the Wukesong Arena and renamed the Cadillac Arena — is almost unrecognizable from 11 years ago with its gold and red exterior.

Li played for China in those 2008 Olympics, where it reached the quarterfinals. And former NBA center Yi Jianlian is the only player from the 2008 Olympics playing on this World Cup team.

“Looking back at the 2008 Olympics, we looked at this as our Olympics,” Yi said, speaking through an interpreter. “We want to look at this tournament as the same thing — as our basketball World Cup.”