The Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) will surpass the WNBA as the largest women's professional basketball league in the world with 18 teams in the upcoming season. The 2018-19 season will launch on October 18.
Shao Ting, captain of China women's national basketball team, showed the different side when she swapped her kit for formal gear and hosted the event's press conference in Beijing on Monday.
The Chinese Basketball Association's (CBA) chairman Yao Ming also attended the event. He claimed that the CBA would cooperate with 18 TV stations and online broadcasters including CCTV5 to make the WCBA the benchmark for women's basketball leagues around the world.
Beijing Shougang wins the final of WCBA season 2017-18, Beijing, March 14, 2018. /VCG Photo
The Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) will raise the curtain for the 2018-19 regular season at Changji Stadium, Xinjiang on October 18, expanding from 14 to 18 teams for a total of 306 matches in 34 rounds.
For the new season, Bayi and Shenbu have combined into one squad simply named "Bayi", while Henan, Tianjin, Hubei, Hebei and Fujian will make their league debuts.
The opener will feature Xinjiang and Daqing on Thursday with the other first-round games slated for October 20. The regular season will conclude on January 19, 2019, with the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs.
The All-Star weekend has been scheduled for January next year.
The league has been growing rapidly since it was established in 2002, even enlarging to 14 from 12 last season, when Beijing won 21 out of 26 matches on their way to becoming three-time champions.
The new season is expected to attract more overseas players and local young athletes will be encouraged and given more opportunities to play in key games.