China’s manpower woes a boon for Gilas

CHINA, easily the most dominant basketball squad in Asia, is expected to be short-handed for the FIBA-Asia Men’s Basketball Championship.

Wang Shipeng, one of the stalwarts of the team, dislocated his wrist in his team’s 43-71 loss to FIBA-Oceania champion Australia in an exhibition game recently.

Wang is the latest Chinese player to be included on the injury list. Already on that list are stalwarts Wang Zhizhi, Zhu Fangyu, Liu Wei, Ding Jinhui, Zhou Peng and Sun Yue, leaving coach Bob Donewald’s squad short-handed for this Olympic qualifying event, which begins on Sept. 26 in Wuhan.

Only last month, Yao Ming, the most successful Chinese player ever to play in the National Basketball Association, and the most dominant big man in the Asian region the past decade, decided to call it quits playing in the world’s most popular pro league as well as in Chinese national team due to series of injuries he sustained.

“We’re confident, but if we’re not healthy, you can’t play kids and win grown men’s games,” Donewald said as posted in the tournament’s official Website.

“That took some life out of the game. We’ve got young players in the game, Wang Shipeng goes down and I take a time out and you could see the faces as Wang Shipeng walks off the floor.”

But Rajko Toroman and Frankie Lim of Pilipinas-SMART Gilas and multi-titled PBA coach Tim Cone of Alaska is more concerned about competing against powerhouse nations from the Middle East, headed by Iran rather than focusing on host team China.

“China is just one of the many teams to look out for in the FIBA Asia Championship. You have powerhouse teams from the Middle East, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar and others and you have Japan and South Korea as well,” said Toroman, the man who steered the Iranians to their first-ever Olympic stint in the Beijing Games in 2008.