Xinjiang Flying Tigers

The Xinjiang Flying Tigers (Chinese: 新疆广汇飞虎) is a professional basketball team based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. The team play its home games at the Urumqi Olympic Sports Center, which has a capacity for 12,000 spectators. The club joined the Chinese Basketball Association Division 2 in the 1999–2000 CBA season, advanced to Division 1A in the 2002–03 season, and had three consecutive Grand Finals appearances in the 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons. The Flying Tigers won their first Championship in the 2016–17 CBA season, defeating Guangdong Southern Tigers 4–0 in the finals.

Xinjiang Flying Tigers
Leagues	CBA
Founded	1999; 25 years ago (1999)
History	Xinjiang Flying Tigers (1999–present)
Arena	Urumqi Olympic Sports Center
Capacity	12,000
Location	Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China
Team colors	Sky Blue, White, Midnight Blue
Main sponsor	Guanghui Group
President	Hou Wei
Team manager	Guo Jian
Head coach	Qiu Biao
Team captain	Abdusalam Abdurixit
Ownership	Sun Guangxin
Championships	1 (2017)
Home Away Third

Xinjiang Flying Tigers
Chinese	新疆广汇飞虎
Hanyu Pinyin	Xīnjiāng Guǎnghuì Fēihǔ
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xīnjiāng Guǎnghuì Fēihǔ Wade–Giles Hsin^1chiang^1 Kuang^3hui^4 Fei^1hu^3 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Syin1 jyang1 Gwang3 hwei4 Fei1 hu3 Jyutping San1 goeng1 Jim2 wui6 Fei1 fu2

History

The Xinjiang Flying Tigers joined the Chinese Basketball Association's Division 2 ahead of the 1999–2000 CBA season, as the first step in the league's plans to expand into the country's western interior. The Flying Tigers won their Division 2 season undefeated and advanced to the Division 1B. Two years later, the Flying Tigers won the 2001–02 season of Division 1B and advanced to Division 1A.

In their first Division 1A season, the Flying Tigers managed to advance to the playoffs, but lost to Beijing Ducks in a 3–1 quarter-final series. After this season, they qualified for the playoffs for another three consecutive seasons, but was never able to advance beyond the first round. In the 2007–08 season, the Flying Tigers signed the former NBA player Mengke Bateer, who brought the team to the second place in regular season. However, a Flying Tigers player, Sou Song Cun, also known as Guan Xiuchang, was found to have a foreign nationality but registered as a domestic player. The league punished the Flying Tigers by treating every game that Sou Song Cun played as a loss for the Flying Tigers. As a result, the Flying Tigers dropped to eleventh place, and missed the playoffs.

After the disappointing season, head coach Jiang Xingquan promoted several young players from the youth team to the first team, including Shirelijan Muxtar and Kyranbek Makhan, who would go on to become the most iconic players of the franchise. Together with Bateer and Jiang, they created the first golden era of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. Bateer became the first player to win three consecutive CBA MVPs, and the team made it to three consecutive CBA Grand Finals. However, in each of the Grand Finals series, Xinjiang lost to the Guangdong Southern Tigers.

The Flying Tigers started its rebuild in the 2012–13 season. They reached the Grand Finals the next season with a relatively low-key roster, despite losing to Beijing Ducks 4–2. Before the 2014–15 season, Xinjiang signed Zhou Qi to build a team around him. Surrounding Zhou Qi, the Flying Tigers signed former NBA stars Andray Blatche and Jordan Crawford. However, Crawford left the team after a few games into the season for medical reasons and refused to return. Losing a key piece of the championship contending roster, the team struggled to find a replacement through the season and ended the season in ninth place, missing the playoffs. The next season, Xinjiang signed championship coach Li Qiuping and all-star forward Li Gen and lost to Sichuan Blue Whales 3–0 in the semi-finals.

In the 2016–17 season, the Flying Tigers signed Bulgarian guard Darius Adams. The star-filled roster of Andray Blatche, Darius Adams, Zhou Qi, Li Gen, Shirelijan Muxtar, and Kyranbek Makhan triumphed through the season, finishing in first place in the regular season. In the playoffs, Xinjiang defeated Shandong Kingston Lions 3–0 in the quarter-finals and Liaoning Flying Leopards 4–1 in the semi-finals. In the Grand Finals, the Flying Tigers defeated their long-time rival Guangdong Southern Tigers in a dominating 4–0 series to win the first ever championship in the franchise's history. Darius Adams won the FMVP award.

After winning the championship, Zhou Qi went to the NBA and joined the Houston Rockets. Losing the all-star center, Xinjiang finished the season with a 3–1 loss to Guangdong Southern Tigers in the quarter-finals. The next season, the team changed the head coach mid-season, signing another championship coach, the Xinjiang native Adiljan Suleyman. The team also changed the foreign players four times during the season, trying Al Jefferson, Nick Minnerath, Hamed Haddadi, and Darius Adams, and finally settled with Jarnell Stokes and Kay Felder at the start of the playoffs. The team reached the Grand Finals, where they lost to Guangdong Southern Tigers 4–0.

In March 2023, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers withdrew from the CBA in protest against a penalty that would have banned the club from signing new players for one year, following contract disputes between the club and Zhou Qi.^[1] However, the decision was overturned two weeks later and the club returned back to the league.^[2]

Players

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Xinjiang Flying Tigers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. PG 0   Xierzhati Saimati 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 85 kg (187 lb) SG 1   Huang Rongqi 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 80 kg (176 lb) PG 2   Mi Aili 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 78 kg (172 lb) PF 5   Mitch Creek 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 100 kg (220 lb) PF 7   Aizimaiti Tuxun 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 115 kg (254 lb) SF 8   Tang Caiyu 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 86 kg (190 lb) C 9   Guanxi Wu 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 111 kg (245 lb) SF 11   Qi Lin 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 91 kg (201 lb) C 13   Li Yanzhe 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) 137 kg (302 lb) PG 14   Travis Trice 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 77 kg (170 lb) PG 19   Yu Dehao 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 92 kg (203 lb) PF 22   Zhu Xuhang 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 95 kg (209 lb) PF 23   Abdusalam Abdurixit (C) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 98 kg (216 lb) SF 25   Guo Yuzhang 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 88 kg (194 lb) C 26   Lutu Bula 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 109 kg (240 lb) C 27   Qu Xiaoyu 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 101 kg (223 lb) PG 28   Lindell Wigginton 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 86 kg (190 lb) SG 55   Dominique Jones 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 98 kg (216 lb) PF 88   Wang Quanze 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 108 kg (238 lb) SG 00   Zhao Rui 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 93 kg (205 lb)	Head coach   Qiu Biao Assistant coach(es)   Kang Jung-soo   Massimo Maffezzoli   Wang Jianmin Legend (C) Team captain   Injured Roster Updated: March 7, 2024

Season-by-season record

CBA season record

Season	Regular season ranking	Playoff finish	Last series
2002–03	4th	Quarter-finals	1–3 Beijing Ducks
2003–04	5th	Quarter-finals	1–2 Jilin Northeast Tigers
2004–05	3rd (North)	Quarter-finals	0–2 Jiangsu Dragons
2005–06	2nd (North)	Quarter-finals	0–3 Jiangsu Dragons
2006–07	9th	Did not qualify
2007–08	11th	Did not qualify
2008–09	2nd	Runners-up	1–4 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2009–10	2nd	Runners-up	1–4 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2010–11	1st	Runners-up	2–4 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2011–12	4th	Semi-finals	0–3 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2012–13	4th	Semi-finals	0–3 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2013–14	2nd	Runners-up	2–4 Beijing Ducks
2014–15	9th	Did not qualify
2015–16	2nd	Semi-finals	0–3 Sichuan Blue Whales
2016–17	1st	Champions	4–0 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2017–18	6th	Quarter-finals	1–3 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2018–19	3rd	Runners-up	0–4 Guangdong Southern Tigers
2019–20	2nd	Semi-finals	0–2 Liaoning Flying Leopards
2020–21	4th	Quarter-finals	Lost to Shandong Heroes (one game only)
2021–22	14th	Did not qualify
2022–23	17th	Did not qualify

Honours

Continental competitions

• FIBA Asia Champions Cup^[a]

Champions: 2016

Runners-up: 2017

Domestic competitions

• Chinese Basketball Association

Playoffs champions: 2016–17

Playoffs runners-up (5): 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2018–19

Regular season champions (2): 2010–11, 2016–17

Regular season runners-up (6): 2005–06 (North), 2008–09, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20

Notes

1. Xinjiang represented China under the name "China Kashgar".

References

Specific

1. "Xinjiang Flying Tigers withdraw from CBA". chinadaily.com.cn. March 1, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
2. Chan, Mike (March 18, 2023). "Chinese Basketball Association: Xinjiang U-turn over decision to quit league, but still no sight of star Zhou Qi". South China Morning Post. Retrieved March 27, 2023.

General

• "2005–06 season information". sports.sina.com.cn.
• "Xinjiang Gyang Hui Flying Tigers basketball". Asia-Basket. Eurobasket. October 11, 2011.