Hong Kong basketball star Li Tsz-kwan selected for Women’s Chinese Basketball Association All-Star game
- Li joins 32 of the league’s best in Northern-Southern battle after a breakout rookie season with Shaanxi Tianze
- ‘It makes me very happy that people finally notice Hong Kong players’, the 26-year-old says
The star-studded game took place in Chengdu, Sichuan on Thursday with Li’s team, the Northern All-Stars, beating their Southern-based rivals 128-120.
There were 32 players from 18 WCBA teams selected to form the two All-Star teams, which were based around which provinces the players were from.
Despite being one of the least-experienced pros in the league, Li was the only player to be selected from her Shaanxi Tianze outfit.
The 26-year-old played alongside notable players such as national team representatives Yang Liwei, Li Yueru and the game’s MVP, Wang Lili, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the Chinese women’s 3x3 basketball team.
Li is coming off her first regular WCBA season with Shaanxi and has already been turning heads with her high shooting percentage and basketball IQ.
“You can always believe in Li Tsz-kwan,” her team wrote on their official Weibo account this month, with user comments suggesting she has already made a mark in the league.
From being virtually unknown in China to reaching an All-Stars game in her rookie season, Li put it all on the line by resigning from her teaching job earlier this year to pursue her professional basketball dreams.
“It makes me very happy that people finally notice Hong Kong players,” she previously told the Post.
The postseason WCBA Playoffs start on Christmas Day, with the league’s top sides competing to reach the Finals. Li’s team sit 16th in the league table after a rough end to the season.
