Team China announced their squad for the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain on the event's official website on Friday. The country maintained almost all rosters from the 2018 Asian Games besides for replacing Wang Lili with Ma Xueya.

Led by forward Shao Ting and center Han Xu, the team have an average height of 1.87 meters and an average age of only 23 years old. They will meet their first rival Latvia on Saturday before playing against the US and Senegal, who are also in Group D.

This is the first event to use the "FIBA Basketball Women's World Cup" name, just like the one for men in China that will be held in 2019. They used to just be called "FIBA World Championships".

Team USA, like their country's male players, have dominated the event by winning nine titles, which is the most of all countries. Moreover, they have not lost even one game at the World Championships and Summer Olympics since the US were defeated by Russia in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championship.

Team China have played in nine events and their best achievement is runner-up in 1994.

There are 16 teams competing in four groups in Spain. As the defending champion, Team USA are ranked No.1 in the world while the host nation Spain are No.2. From 3 to 5 are France, Australia and Canada respectively. China are No.10, higher than the recent Asian champion Japan that rank No.13. Nigeria, at 34, have the lowest world ranking.

The US are looking for their third world championship in a row and are led by 37-year-old Sue Bird,  a four-time IBA World Cup veteran. Their biggest challengers are probably Spain and Australia. The latter have Liz Cambage, who is now known as No.1 center in the world and will cause trouble inside the paint area for the US.

The top ranking teams of the four groups will automatically qualify for the knockout stage while the eight No.2 and No.3 ranking teams will play against each other for the remaining quarter-final spots. Team China in Group D with Team USA thus may meet Japan after the group stage. Though China beat Japan at the 2018 Asian Games, key players from their team did not attend the event, suggesting they may field a different lineup.

(Top picture: Team China take family photos before departing for Spain. /VCG Photo)