LI Nan, Forward, Team Captain (CHN)

"I am deeply moved after what we achieved today. In my career, it is the second time that China reaches the final eight in a world competition. We have a great coach. We have a relatively young team, but we have made great progress. What happened today is a miracle, and I don't know how to express my feelings. The coach told us never to give up, and we all understood this was our last chance. We seized it and we won.”

LIU Wei, Guard (CHN)

“Many thanks to coach HARRIS, he made a big effort with us despite his age (giggles). He’s done everything for us. The Olympic Games are a stage for miracles. I hope this will lead our team to play even better from now on. We played as a tight fist. People used to say that we break down as a team during stress periods. Now we have given a brand new image. I hope this is not the end of the road but the beginning of a new one.”

YAO Ming, Center (CHN)

“It’s a day of great joy. In 1996, when I saw the Chinese team qualify for the quarterfinals (in Atlanta), I was impressed. It was a great deed, and we did the same. Coach gave us a lesson of life. His ‘never give up’ motto was the watchword for us. This win is a treasure for the future generation of Chinese Basketball players. It was the fruit of our labours. We just didn’t want to pack and go that early.”

Zelimir OBRADOVIC, Head Coach (SCG)

“Congratulations to China for their win and good game. It was a big shock for us, and the hardest moment of my career. We wanted very much to win, and we were leading throughout the game. In the last quarter we let our opponents come back, something that had happened to us before in this tournament. We lost again due to our very bad finish.”

Del HARRIS, Head Coach (CHN)

On the game:

“I respect coach OBRADOVIC’s feelings. In my many years as a coach, there have been sad moments and also good ones. I have coached for forty years and over fifty teams, but I have never coached a group I had more respect for, for their effort and for the kind of human beings they are, than this group of young men. And I think this is the best win I’ve ever had. Technically, we did very well in staying mentally alert in defense. And we did an excellent job in staying with their best shooters, like (Dejan) BODIROGA, (Vladimir) RADMANOVIC, or (Igor) RAKOCEVIC.”

On whether having a Lithuanian coach in his staff can help China beat Lithuania in the quarterfinals:

“Sure a Lithuanian coach can help us win, if he can shoot and rebound… Jonas (KAZLAUSKAS) is a great coach, and has been and will be a great help to me, whether we play Lithuania or anybody else.”

On Chinese Basketball:

“The next step is to enable the national team to play more games against top international competition. Everybody else does it. Playing them every two years is not enough. We have to find a way to play against somebody other than ourselves. And this will be hard because of the geography.”