Mali women fall to China in World Cup warm-up

Mali’s women will have to correct their weaknesses in the remaining preparation games after opening their World Cup tournament with a defeat by China. The result came before a particularly significant meeting with Spain, whom they will also face in the World Cup group stage.

China won 79-68 on Friday at Zaragoza’s Palacio de Deportes. Mali started positively, taking the opening quarter 14-13, but China led 35-33 at halftime after gradually turning the game in its favour. The Chinese then extended their advantage in the third quarter, leaving Mali 10 points behind at 58-48 before the final period.

Naignouma Coulibaly, Alima G. Dembélé and Diana Balayera helped Mali compete in the closing stages, but the team could not overturn the deficit. China’s centre Ziyu Zhang was also a major factor as the Malians struggled to regain control.

Captain Djénèba N’Diaye said the immediate purpose of the tournament was to identify and fix errors ahead of the World Cup rather than focus solely on results. Mali’s second game is against Spain on Saturday. The three-day event runs from August 28 to 30, and the Spanish encounter will offer an early test against one of Mali’s eventual Group A opponents, alongside Germany and Japan.