The Chinese men's national 3x3 basketball team will "show some muscle" at the Tokyo Olympics which is less than three months away, the team's head coach Liu Zhen told Xinhua News Agency.

"Now the four qualified teams [for the Tokyo Olympics] are Serbia, Russia, Japan and China," said Liu. "The other four are probably American and European teams. That means we will be facing intense challenges. We must make full use of the coming two months and spare no effort in our preparation efficiently. … We want to take this opportunity and show some muscle on the Olympic stage."

A nine-player list was released this week for the men's squad including Zheng Yi, Li Haonan, Ding Yanyuhang, Chen Peidong, Liu Hengyi, Zhao Shuaizhou, Hu Jinqiu, Yan Peng and Guo Hanyu. Ding and Hu are CBA players. According to Liu, both are good enough for 3x3 basketball games. But the duo will need some time to recover from their injuries and adapt to the difference between the 3x3 and 5x5 formats.

The women's team has also recruited 11 players for the training camp: Li Yingyun, Zhang Zhiting, Gong Li, Wan Jiyuan, Wang Haimei, Wu Di, Chen Mingling, Yang Shuyu, Gao Song, Wang Lili and Fang Min.

Xu Jiamin, the head coach of the women's team raised some concerns including many players not recovering after just finishing an intense schedule and the age imbalance among the roster members. Most of the veterans are struggling with injuries, while few of the youngsters have enough experience in major international competitions.

Xu expressed belief that her players are able to overcome the various difficulties, prepare well and achieve excellent performance during the Olympics.