China's men's national basketball team is slated to start their Olympic campaign with a battle against the US on Saturday after their first training session in Rio on Thursday.

China's men's national basketball team started their training session in Rio on Thursday with the team to start their Olympic campaign with a battle against the US on Saturday.

China are grouped with Tony Parker's France, an Australian team led by NBA star Andrew Bogut, world basketball superpower the US, and as European giants Serbia and 2015 FIBA  Americas champions Venezuela.

Gong said the team is there to "learn" at Rio Games, as the players on the roster had an average age of just 23.

"We don't have much pressure," Gong told reporters in Rio. "It's an experience we must learn from, to know the gap between us and the world leading players."

In his previous tenure at the national team, Gong Luming has led China to reach to the quarterfinals at Atlanta, and fans are expecting him to produce some miracles.

"We don't have the quality to challenge them, all we need to do is to learn when facing the US," Gong said.

Gong led China to qualify for the Rio Games by winning the FIBA Asian Championship last year.

It is the team's first appearance at the Summer Olympics after star centers Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer all retired.

The team's buildups ahead of Rio Games often saw China routed by their opponents, including defeats to group opponents the US and Australia.

But star player Yi Jianlian said those defeats have brought the team forward.

"We were playing against stronger teams, but I think we made some improvement after every match," the power forward said.

"We still have a lot of room to improve. It's exactly these game that could teach us how to play when facing high-level teams."

The veteran also expressed his hopes for his younger teammates, as most of them are playing  their first Olympic Games.

"We have to improve game by game, or we will be left behind at world stage," he said.