China Men's Basketball Team's Historic Breakthrough

China Men's Basketball Team's Historic Breakthrough: Silver!

By defeating France, China Team had already secured the silver medal.

You could say they had already exceeded expectations.

Before this Men's Basketball World Cup began, the leaders had set a minimum goal of making the quarterfinals, with the aim of reaching the semifinals and, ideally, winning a medal.

China's leaders hadn't dared to hope for much when it came to medals.

A bronze would have been enough.

That alone would have been a historic breakthrough.

But now China Team had beaten France and secured the silver medal outright.

This left China's fans incredibly excited.

The moment the game ended, tears welled up in Director Zhang's eyes again.

China Team winning a medal at an international tournament had been a dream shared by generations of Chinese basketball players for decades.

Now, at last, that dream had become reality. A decades-long wish had finally come true. How could that not move him?

He was so overcome with emotion that he didn't speak for more than two minutes.

Yu Jia beside him was just as excited.

"We won! We won!! Not only did we win this game, we've also won a silver medal!!! China Basketball has achieved a historic breakthrough at this Basketball World Cup. This has been the dream of countless people in Chinese basketball for fifty, even sixty years."

"From this moment on, we can proudly announce to the whole world: Chinese basketball has risen!"

"We now have the confidence to go toe-to-toe with the world's strongest teams."

"Of course, we still have our final against Team America to play. And honestly, our odds of beating them aren't very high. But whatever the result, China Men's Basketball Team has already made us proud. We have every reason to feel proud."

Yu Jia