Brave Women's Basketball Team Avoids a Repeat of China's Three Major Ball Sports' 15-Year-Old Embarrassment, Bringing a Highlight to the New Olympic Cycle

After defeating Puerto Rico by a narrow three-point margin, China's women's basketball team successfully advanced to the top eight of this Women's Basketball World Cup. China’s women's basketball team has won silver and bronze medals at the Olympics and World Cups multiple times. From a historical perspective, reaching the top eight of this World Cup may not be considered a remarkable achievement, but for China's three major ball sports at present, it is a rare highlight in the Los Angeles Olympic cycle. China's three major ball sports have therefore avoided the embarrassment of having no team reach the highest-level world single-sport event for the first time since 2011.

To clarify, the highest-level world single-sport events referred to in this article include the men's football World Cup, the women's football and basketball World Cups and their predecessor world championships, as well as the volleyball world championship, which will be renamed the World Cup starting next year.

In this Women's Basketball World Cup, China's team overcame difficult challenges in its last three matches, making its path to the top eight particularly difficult. In the opening group match, the national team suffered a heavy defeat against the United States, then came back fortunately against the Czech Republic in the second match to secure early qualification from the group, before defeating Italy by a large margin in the final group match to finish second in the group. In the play-in match held last night and this morning, China defeated Puerto Rico without major danger, making its journey to the quarterfinals full of twists and turns.

It is worth noting that after defeating Puerto Rico, China's women's basketball team also continued a pattern for China's national teams in the three major ball sports participating in the highest-level world single-sport events since 2011: among the six events held during the same period, at least one national team has reached the top eight.

There was a time when China's overall strength in the three major ball sports was dominant in Asia. Apart from men's football, the other five national teams all had highlights of reaching the top eight of world championships. China's women's volleyball team won two world championship titles, China's women's basketball and women's football teams both produced strong performances by reaching the top three, and China's men's basketball and men's volleyball teams also reached the top eight multiple times. Taking the 1994 and 1995 seasons as examples, China's women's football, men's basketball, women's basketball and women's volleyball teams respectively finished second, eighth, second and eighth in world championships. Multiple national teams from the three major ball sports reaching the top eight in the same Olympic cycle showed that China's foundation in football, basketball and volleyball was not weak at that time.

For various reasons, China's overall competitiveness in the three major ball sports has declined over the past two decades. Women's football first lost its status as a world-class team, followed by men's basketball no longer being the leader in Asia. In recent years, women's volleyball has also seen a clear decline in international competitiveness, missing the quarterfinals of last year's world championship, while China's women's basketball team has also not been at its peak due to a transition between generations.

Entering the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, China's overall results in the three major ball sports have not been satisfactory. The men's football team still failed to reach the World Cup finals. China's men's and women's volleyball teams finished 30th and ninth respectively at the 2025 world championships. The next men's basketball World Cup will be held in 2027, and with China's current competitiveness, reaching the top eight would be extremely difficult. Against this background, China's women's basketball team, which missed the top eight at the 2024 Paris Olympics, secured a quarterfinal spot at this World Cup despite not being highly favored beforehand, making the achievement significant.

In 1978, China's men's and women's volleyball teams both reached the top eight of the world championships, marking the first highlight for China's three major ball sports at top-level events. Over the following 32 years, China's national teams in the three sports never failed to produce such a result, but this streak ended in 2011, when six national teams in football, basketball and volleyball collectively failed to reach the top level world events' top eight.

That year, China's women's football team failed to qualify for the world championship (which had already been renamed the World Cup at that time), four basketball and volleyball national teams failed to reach the top eight at the 2010 world championships, and the men's football team remained spectators at the World Cup. As a result, China's three major ball sports experienced their first embarrassment since 1978 of having no team reach the same stage of the highest-level world single-sport world championships.

Early this morning Beijing time, China's women's basketball team successfully avoided a repeat of this embarrassment with a spirit of tenacious effort, once again showing the spirit of the 'Fearless Golden Orchids' from the previous World Cup. It is hoped that the women's basketball players can continue to create glory during this Olympic cycle and beyond, joining the other five national teams in creating a 'China's three major ball sports symphony.'