NANJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's men's national basketball team was ranked 13th in the latest FIBA power rankings ahead of the 2019 World Cup in China which opens this Saturday.
Serbia and the USA were respectively ranked first and second in the power rankings, which are based upon the possible scenarios in both the group and final phase, and the current form of all the 32 teams in the competition.
If judged solely on training camps, China would be Group A winners, and would be in with a chance of making the elite eight phase in the Second Round, according to the rankings.
China will play its first game against Cote d'Ivoire on August 31, but will be without forward Zhou Peng, who withdrew from the tournament with a broken left foot. Ding Yanyuhang, the two-time CBA MVP, has also pulled out of the team's training camp because of injury.