LI TSZ-KWAN FIRED UP FOR FRESH LEAGUE RUN
Hong Kong’s only professional women’s player set for second season in mainland competition after being recruited by Shanxi Bamboo Leaf
Hong Kong’s first and only professional women’s basketball player Li Tsz-kwan is set to play in her second mainland league season after signing with Shanxi Bamboo Leaf.
The opening round of the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) league takes place today, and Li is expected to play for her new team in their first game at home to Shandong High Speed, who finished third last season, four places above Shanxi.
It is another fresh start for Li after she impressed in the last campaign with her previous team, Shaanxi Tianze.
She had spent five months looking for her big break on the mainland after giving up her teaching job in Hong Kong to pursue her sporting dream, and tried out with Guangdong and Wuhan before joining Shaanxi in October last year and making her debut a month later.
Despite her team notching up just two wins out of 17 and finishing 16th in the 18-team league, the Hong Kong national team player averaged 16.4 points per game in her rookie season and was selected for the All-Star Game.
Shanxi signed Li after the league changed its rules to allow teams finishing sixth or below to sign players from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Previously only teams ranked ninth or below could sign such players.
The rule change proved timely for Shanxi. Their captain Wu Tongtong – who, like Li, plays as a guard – was injured in last month’s World Cup final defeat by the United States in Sydney and will be sidelined for up to 10 months.
Li was relishing getting started with her new team, who won three consecutive titles between 2013 and 2015. Only seven different clubs have won the league since it began in 2002.
“It was surprising – I was not expecting to join any top-eight teams really [before the rule changes],” the 27-year-old said.
Shanxi are a traditional powerhouse, and members from their coaching team were involved in Australia as China’s national team produced their best finish in a women’s World Cup in almost three decades.
Sixth on the WCBA’s scorer chart last season, and twice the top scorer in the Hong Kong women’s Division 1 before that, Li said there was much she could gain from playing under them.
“I wish to learn more from the coaches, as well as [undergo] the more systematic training,” she said. “My three-point shooting had been improving over the years, but it is still the weaker link compared with my pull-up jumpers and mid-range game.”
Defence is another area Li intends to enhance by drawing on the experience around her. Li said that Shanxi would need to counter a height disadvantage – they are slightly below the league average – with greater speed.
The two-time Asian Games representative’s primary task, however, remains scoring, and she is trying to blend in with her new team, with “obviously higher standards and playing a highertempo game”.
There will be 17 teams in the 2022-23 WCBA season, with the play-offs beginning on January 25, followed by the best-of-three finals series from February 21.
The All-Star Game, which Li won last season with the Northern team, is expected to be held on February 4 or 5.
Two-time defending champions Inner Mongolia Rural Credit Union take on Sichuan Yuanda at home on the opening night.