China women's basketball team head coach Zheng Wei expects a challenging journey for her side at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Chinese player Li Yuan competes during the group stage match against Mongolia in the women's basketball tournament at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province on Sept. 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

China, the runner-up at the 2022 FIBA Women's World Cup, will face Serbia, Spain and Puerto Rico at this summer's Paris Olympics, after the draw was made in Mies, Switzerland on Tuesday.

The 12 teams to participate in the basketball competition of the Paris Olympics were divided into three groups, with the top two of each group and the two best third-placed teams to progress to the quarterfinals.

"Every team that competes in the Olympic Games is strong. Except the United States, other teams have quite little gap separating them. Winning or losing will be decided by on-court performances," Zheng told Xinhua.

"Therefore, we should not underestimate every opponent, and prepare for the difficulties," she added.

After knowing the team's grouping in the Paris Olympics, Zheng said that Team China will make in-depth analysis at the next stage and conduct specific training after players assemble in early May.

The team will also plan to play some warmup matches against strong sides during its preparations, including Australia, Spain, Serbia and France.

"Through playing against these strong teams, we hope to adjust ourselves to the competitiveness of international matches as soon as possible," commented Zheng.

Looking forward to the Paris Games, Zheng stressed that it's important for the Chinese team to focus on doing its job well.

"Hopefully through the training and warmup matches, we can better handle the pressure and fit into the highly-competitive games," Zheng said.

"At the Paris Olympics, we will go all out to showcase our mentality and play at the highest level, without having any regrets," she concluded.

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