Top guard banners China; Qatar, Iraq boost rosters

MANILA, Philippines – Six-foot-4 do-it-all guard Guo Ailun, a Mythical Five member in the Changsha FIBA Asia Championship, banners the China team that will be without top behemoths Yi Jianlian and Zhou Qi in its title defense in the Asian meet that fires off in Lebanon on Tuesday next week.

Six-foot-9 forward Zhou Peng, 6-foot-5 guard Li Gen and 7-foot-2 center Li Muhao are the other Asia Cup veterans in the Chinese squad that will be Gilas Pilipinas’ first assignment in the Lebanon joust next Wednesday.

 Liu Xiaoyu, Gu Quan, Yu Dehao, Ren Junfei, Hu Jinqiu, Zeng Lingxu, Wu Qian and Han Dejun complete the roster of coach Du Feng for the 2017 Asia Cup where they are bracketed with the Philippines, Qatar and Iraq in the group play.

The top team automatically advances to the quarterfinals while the second and third teams make the qualifying games to the Final Eight.

Yi, a five-year NBA veteran with Milwaukee, New Jersey, Washington and Dallas, and Zhou, the 43rd pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2016 NBA Draft, are conspicuously missing in the Chinese team to Asia Cup. They might be lined up for the FIBA Asia World Cup qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Qatar is bringing back five Changsha conclave veterans in Lebanon, where the Qataris also unveil US-trained 6-foot-10 center forward Nasser Al-Rayes.

Author: Nelson Beltran
Full Article: http://www.philstar.com/sports/2017/08/02/1723894/fiba-asia-cup-top-guard-banners-china-qatar-iraq-boost-rosters