SYDNEY, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women's basketball team B has lost 74-67 to the Sydney Uni Flames in a rough and tumble friendly at the University campus court on Friday evening.
Touring Australia for a series of warm-up matches ahead of the 2019 Asian Cup in India next week, the Chinese side was packed with young and up-and-coming talent looking to make their mark.
Speaking with Xinhua after the match, Chinese Olympic basketball team head coach Wang Guizhi said, "we're here to learn, to practice and to improve ourselves."
"Our opponents performed very well, and we also learned a lot from them. Their style of play was more direct and they had a strong desire to grab rebound."
After a slow start to the first period, China fought back in the second to draw level. But the aggression of the four-time Australian National Women's Basketball League team proved too much for the visiting side in the second half.
"We've played a couple of teams before, and we know Australian side's are very strong," Chinese team captain Liang Jiamei said.
"For us, we're a young team and everyone is learning from our opponents," she added.
"The most important thing for us to learn from Australia is their physical confrontation. We'll go back and do more antagonistic training, to make the most of our trip to Australia."
