Zhou Qi World Cup Bound

Friday, June 16, 2023

Uncontracted Phoenix centre named in China's World Cup squad.

China’s initial 21-man squad has been named for the upcoming FIBA World Cup, and uncontracted South East Melbourne centre Zhou Qi has been listed in the group.

Qi returned for a second season with the Phoenix ahead of NBL24, but left midway through the campaign to return to China for personal reasons. During that time, he has continued to represent the national team in World Cup qualifying games.

He played 24 games for South East Melbourne across NBL22, and averaged 11.6 points, 6.6 boards and two blocks per game, but suited up just nine times for the side in NBL23.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Aleksandar Djordjevic's roster for the training camp ?<br><br>What do you think about China's chances in Group B? ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForChina?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForChina</a> ?? <a href="https://t.co/GV4BDmCIQ9">pic.twitter.com/GV4BDmCIQ9</a></p>— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 ? (@FIBAWC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC/status/1669272224191111168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Qi featured in nine games across his country’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

Former Brisbane Bullet and tallest ever NBL player Chuanxiang Liu has missed a call-up to the national side for the upcoming tournament, after not featuring for his country in its qualifying campaign.

The 225-centimetre centre played 23 games for the Bullets in NBL22, and has been playing for the Hong-Kong based Bay Area Dragons in the East Asia Super League since his departure from the NBL.

He participated in China’s 2021 FIBA Asia Cup and 2020 Olympic Qualifying Tournament prior to being left out of its World Cup push.