The Chinese women, also the reigning Asian champions, proved to be too much for the much smaller Lebanese side. They were just quicker, stronger and sharper.

"Our opponents did their best, and we were just trying to do the same," said China head coach Thomas Maher.

Miao Lijie and Zhang Xiaoni scored 19 points apiece to lead five Chinese in double digits. Sui Feifei came from the bench to add 13.

"We have to do our best in every game in order to get ready for tougher games in the knock-out stage," said Miao.

Six teams are playing in two groups of the round-robin preliminaries with top two finishers from each group to qualify for the semi-finals.