Perth Lynx will shatter their attendance record when Chinese star Han Xu plays her first home game on Friday

Perth Lynx are set to be richly rewarded for signing Chinese superstar Han Xu with the club preparing to shatter their attendance record in her first home game on Friday night. The 211cm Xu made her debut for the Lynx against Canberra last weekend and had an immediate impact with 22 points and two blocks in the 24-point victory. Xu’s arrival in Australia was met with enormous hype and excitement, and fans are preparing to pack out the Perth High Performance Centre for Friday night’s game against Southside Melbourne Flyers. Nearly 3000 people are on track to attend, which will destroy the previous highest attendance of 1753 for the 2024 grand final at the smaller Bendat Basketball Centre. “It’s awesome,” Lynx General Manager Chris Earl told The West Australian. “We’re really seeing the Han effect and everyone at the club is excited about playing in front of a full house. This is where we want to take the club. We refreshed the brand and brought it closer to the community which has been important. “Now we get the opportunity to showcase both that and women’s sport. We’re really excited. Hopefully this brings in some new fans who will follow us for the rest of the season. “We’ve sold just under 1000 tickets to the Chinese community. We’re really excited that they are now part of the Lynx family. We saw a group of 40 people turn up the airport so they could be there when Han arrived at 11 o’clock at night. They’re really behind her.” Representatives from the Chinese Consulate will also be at the game. That follows China’s Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian watching Xu’s debut in Canberra. The Lynx took a risk at the start of the season by signing Xu despite knowing she would miss the first eight games because of overseas commitments. They also scheduled every game at the Perth HPC in a bid to entice more fans. Earl said those risks were now paying off as the Lynx look to cement their position in the top three on the WNBL ladder. “We took calculated risks,” Earl said. “To sign Han was a big call because we could have been 0-8 and staring down the barrel by the time she arrived. Now we’re in a really strong position to show what we can do. And moving to Perth High Performance Centre has been well received by everyone. We feel poised to pounce. It’s nice that it is all coming to fruition.”