China opens Olympic campaign with back-to-back defeats

China’s men’s basketball team opened their Group B Olympic schedule with disappointingly one-sided defeats to group favourites Spain and Russia.

On Sunday, China were defeated 97-81 by Spain, despite 30 points from the nation’s flag bearer, Yi Jianlin. Pau Gasol top scored for Spain, ranked second in the world, with 21 points, while Serge Ibaka complimented the Lakers big man with 17 points and 5 rebounds.

China lost the battle of the boards, convincingly, with the Spaniards claiming 39 rebounds, to China’s 25. This, along with a sub 50% free-throw showing, proved crucial for the Chinese who entered the game hoping for an upset to set them on the right path for a quarter-final berth.

Keen to put that result behind them, coach Donewald would have been particularly upset by the performance against Russia two days later. While the defeat to Spain was somewhat expected, a near 20 point defeat to a team ranked just one place below them in the FIBA rankings, was not.

Yi Jianlin, was again the highest scorer and the only Chinese player to notch up double figures, going 6-of-14 from the floor and getting 16 points. For Russia, the new Minnesota duo of Shved and Kirilenko were yet again the main players. Having torn GB apart with a combined 51 points, the duo notched up 30 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, as the Russians claimed their second victory of the tournament with a 73-54 triumph.

Those two defeats means that China will need to win all three games to give themselves a chance of getting through to the quarter-finals. On Thursday they will play Australia, before finishing off with games against Brazil and Great Britain.