China's national women's basketball team coach Tom ­Maher expects his team to ­finish in the top eight in the World ­Championship this year, the Australian told reporters on Tuesday after a training session in Beijing.

"We are still a baby team," said the coach. "But we can't keep saying we are young. We have to get experience and step up. So I'd like to think we can get top eight in the World Championship."

September sees a scheduling conflict for the national team, as they qualified for both the FIBA World Championship in Istanbul and the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

China now have two ­national teams, one senior team and one Olympic team for the respective events.

However, the current senior national team are mostly young players, with an average age of 22, which raised eyebrows over their ability.

But Maher, who led the team to fourth place at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games during his previous tenure, said the current first team are developing.

"[We're] still developing our style, they are all young players, there's no on-court leadership really, so we are developing slowly but coming along," said the 62-year-old.

"What I have to do is to ­identify international talent, players who can play at international level, not just the best players at the moment, but in the future who can represent China and win."

The senior team will leave for Nanjing, East China's ­Jiangsu Province on Thursday to host three games against Cuba over five days from Friday.

The coach has already set his sights on the World Championship, but he expressed gaining experience there is more important than a good result.

"We want to do well [at the World Championship]," he said. "It's difficult but I'm hopeful we can get enough experience to have a very fruitful championships."

Compared to the team he coached previously, the current team doesn't have any superstar players, but Maher said some players in the current team have the potential to be world-class.

"We don't have a superstar,"  Maher said. "Lu Wen is a world-class player, she will star in the world stage. We hope some ­other players like Shao Ting, who have just come from ­nowhere, can be world-class players. We will see what they've got."

He also pointed out the weakness of the national team, saying the point guard and ­center still need to improve.

The coach went on to point out there will be some changes among the two national team's players based on their form.

After retirement, former star Chen Nan joined the coaching staff of the national team, which is a "big help" according to the ­Australian.