Sichuan Yuanda Meile
Basketball team in Sichuan, China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sichuan Yuanda Meile Basketball Club (Chinese: 四川远达美乐篮球俱乐部) is a Chinese basketball team based in Sichuan which plays in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association.
History
Early years
In 1958, the men's and women's provincial basketball team for Sichuan was established.[1][2] The Xinan women's team which won the national championships in 1955 was its predecessor.[3] However women's team struggled in the National Games with its best finish in the 20th century being fifth in 1959 and 1975.[2]
It has competed in the National Women's Basketball A Division League. It relegated to the second division in 1999.[4]
2000–2019
At the 2001 National Games, Sichuan reached the women's basketball finals. However for the next two decades the team has failed to advanced from the preliminaries.[2]
In 2014, Sichuan entered the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) by acquiring the franchise of Yunnan's team. However they got relegated again in 2015.[2][5] They returned again to the WCBA in 2016.[6]
Under the Yuanda Group: 2019–present
In October 2019, the Sichuan Yuanda Group Co., Ltd. formally took over the basketball team adopting the name "Sichuan Yuanda Meile Basketball Club".[7]
Sichuan Yuanda Meile won the 2022 National Women's Basketball Championship, its first ever top-level China national championship since its inception.[1][3] It then went on to win its first WCBA title in the 2022–23 season.[2]
Sichuan then qualified for the 2024 Women's Basketball League Asia in Chengdu and won the inaugural title.[8] They returned in the third edition in 2026 to be hosted in Bengaluru, India.[9]