KARACHI :
China's coach Rashid Khan on Tuesday expressed high hopes for his
women's team at this year's Asia Cup Twenty20, saying that they were
outperforming the men.
The 52-year-old
former Pakistan paceman has spent five years coaching China since the
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International Cricket Council marked the
country as one of the biggest new markets for the game.
Khan said the women's Twenty20 tournament in October in Guangzhou, southern China, would be a turning point.
The
Chinese women's team "has shown more progress than their men's team and
I pin my hopes on the Asia Cup Twenty20 event... as the turning point
where my team will create upsets," Khan told AFP while on holiday in
Pakistan.
Besides the hosts, formidable
teams from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and
Thailand will participate in the event.
Khan said the pool of women players in China was increasing.
"Chinese
women are athletic and are showing interest in cricket. At present we
have a pool of 150 players and with the introduction of the game in
schools and colleges more and more women will come," said Khan.
China
finished fourth in the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010 before
finishing runners-up in the ACC women's Trophy the same year, losing to
Hong Kong in the final.
China's under-19
women's team finished fifth out of nine teams in the ACC under-19 event
held in Kuwait in February and Khan said these performances were
encouraging.
He welcomed support from the
Chinese authorities and said the ACC's decision to send Chinese players
on coaching courses had honed their talent.
"Without
the ACC's support the progress of Chinese cricket would not be possible
and the recent initiative to send Chinese players to England and
various other countries have helped groom them a great deal," said Khan.
Top
Chinese women players Huang Zhou, Zhou Haijie and Yu Miao will train in
England and Khan hoped they would mature as a result.
Khan
said his men's team will feature in the ACC Trophy Challenge in
Thailand in December, where they have a good chance against low-ranked
teams like Bahrain, Iran, Myanmar, Qatar, Singapore and Thailand.
