China sets up new committee to boost national basketball team performance

BEIJING -- A new committee has been established to improve the competitiveness of the Chinese national basketball teams amid their preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced the founding of the National Team Setup Committee on Friday.

The committee is chaired by CBA president Yao Ming while former Chinese women's international Wang Fang will serve as the executive director. Hu Xuefeng, also a former national team player, is named assistant director in the committee.

The CBA said in a statement that the committee is responsible for laying out and implementing the standard for national team setup and the teams' preparation plans for Paris 2024.

The committee's other duties include setting up and running the schemes for player and coach call-up, recruitment and development, formulating and executing the teams' training, competition and anti-doping plans, and fostering team culture within the national teams.

Chinese women's national team placed fifth at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, while their men's counterparts failed to get the ticket to the Games.