Shao Ting officially announces her entry into the WNBA

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At today’s WNBA media meeting featuring Shao Ting, Xu Limin, the head coach of the Chinese women’s basketball team, and Zhang Yunsong, the head coach of the Beijing women’s basketball team, were both present. They offered their best wishes to Shao Ting and hoped that, through her experience in this WNBA season, she would be able to make greater contributions to her team and to the Beijing team. Shao Ting said she was very excited when she first received news from the Mountain Cats team. Regarding her expectations for the WNBA, Shao Ting said, “It’s a process of turning dreams into reality. I hope to showcase the spirit of the Chinese women’s basketball team on the WNBA court and introduce the unique cultural aspects of Chinese basketball to the world.” The team to which Shao Ting has joined this time is the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA. It is reported that the Lynx have offered Shao Ting a fully guaranteed regular-season contract. Previously, the Mountain Cats offered a pre-season contract to another Chinese female basketball player, Li Meng, but since Li Meng would need to prepare for the World Military Games as well as meet the team’s preparation requirements for the Olympics this year, she was unable to go to the United States. The Mountain Cats then considered Shao Ting, who had previously come for tryouts; upon learning that she would not be able to sign a contract that guaranteed her participation for the entire season, they ultimately offered her a formal contract with full coverage. Shao Ting is no stranger to the WNBA’s Mountain Cats. In 2017, the Bobcats invited Shao Ting to join their pre-season training camp. She not only attended the camp but also played in 2 pre-season games for the Bobcats, yet she was unable to stay with the team at the last moment. But two years later, Shao Ting is now set to officially become a member of the Mountain Cats. She will be the sixth player to compete in the WNBA, following Zheng Haixia, Sui Feifei, Miao Lijie, Chen Nan, and Han Xu, who was selected by the WNBA’s New York Liberty team this year. This summer, several Chinese women’s basketball players caught the attention of WNBA teams through the draft or other means; Han Xu and Li Yueru were both selected at this year’s WNBA draft. Li Meng, Sun Mengran, Yang Liwei, and Shao Ting have all received contracts with different teams, but aside from Han Xu, only Shao Ting will officially join the WNBA.