Taiwan recorded a second win in the competition on day three of the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup in Beirut late on Monday evening with an 86-77 triumph over Iraq to improve to a 2-1 mark in Group A’s preliminary round action.
The win not only left Taiwan atop the standings, but also clinched a second-round berth in which the top four squads from each group will compete in cross-group matches to determine the final standings. The top five finishers will quality for the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November.
What should have been an easy win for Taiwan against a winless Iraqi team was anything but as the underdogs kept it fairly close with a strong low-post game to trail 21-20 after the first quarter.
The obvious size advantage for Iraq (with five players over 200cm) was neutralized by superior perimeter shooting by Taiwan which went on a 13-2 run in the first five minutes of the second quarter to lead it 34-22 before finishing the half with a 45-34 advantage.
After a quick bucket that upped Taiwan’s lead to 11 early in the third, Iraq rallied from behind to half its deficit before holding Taiwan’s offense scoreless for five minutes in what ended up being a 19-0 run to close out the quarter with a surprising 64-52 lead.
It took a valiant nine-point effort by point guard Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon Luxgens) against a foul-plagued Iraq in the final quarter to bring Taiwan back from the dead and eventually prevail by nine in the end.
Five different players scored in double-digits for Taiwan, led by Chen Hsuen-shiang’s (Bank of Taiwan) team-high 16, while Iraq’s Mohammed Mahdi led all scorers with 27 in a losing effort for his team.
Next up for Taiwan will be Iran in what should be a uphill battle with tipoff scheduled for 3pm in Beirut today.
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