Outplayed by its Chinese counterpart in every facet of the game, Team Taiwan suffered an ugly 101-65 loss in Game 3 of the basketball competition at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, late on Wednesday evening.
Other than a decent first quarter that ended with China leading 24-23, in which the Taiwanese managed to run its offense without much trouble, the game was as one-sided as one can imagine, with China doing as it pleased on both ends of the floor.
From the second quarter on, Taiwan was unable to keep up with a tenacious Chinese attack that capitalized on its height advantage by pounding the ball inside the paint with dominant efforts from big men Yi Jian-lian (212cm and 110kg) and Wang Zhi-zhi (212cm and 130kg) to build a 52-33 lead by the end of the first half.
PHOTO: AFP
Held to just 10 points offensively in the second quarter, Taiwan continued its dismal showing in the third quarter by scoring only 13 points, compared with the 28 from a Chinese line-up of mostly reserve players by that time, to trail by 34 points heading into the final quarter.
China would take leads as large as 40 points towards the end of the game that had long been over before Taiwan mustered a few late-game baskets to keep the deficit under 40 points in the rout.
Only three players were able to crack double-digits in scoring for Taiwan with Chen "Airman" Hsin-an of the Yulon Dinos and Taiwan Beer's Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh netting 14 points each, followed by Tien Lei's (Dacin Tigers) 10.
As for China, all but one of its five starters racked up 10 points or more, led by Yi's game-high 28, with sharpshooters Zhu Fang-yu and Hu Xue-feng chipping in 18 and 16 points respectively.
The whopping rebounding margin off the glass, with China enjoying a 45-20 advantage was even more embarrassing than the final score for Taiwan since it further showed how much the Chinese outhustled the Taiwanese.
Next up for Team Taiwan is another uphill battle tonight against a heavily favored Lebanese squad that looked very strong in the early going of the tournament.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but