Local basketball fans will be hoping the exodus of stars such as Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh, (Taiwan Beer), Chen Hsin-an (Yulon Luxgens) and most recently Lee Hsueh-lin (Luxgens) from the Super Basketball League (SBL) to China’s higher-paying Chinese Basketball Association will not be felt too strongly over the course of the new season that starts today.
First up this afternoon at the Taipei County Sports Complex in Sinjhuang is a showdown between Pure Youth Construction and the new-and-improved Taiwan Mobile Leopards, with Leopards fans looking forward to seeing Su Shiang-yi in action. The versatile guard was signed from the Dacin Tigers in the summer after reports that he might also have been on his way to China.
Taiwan Mobile will also be able to call on the services of former Oklahoma State standout Marcus Dove, whose impressive resume includes the Defensive Player of the Year honor in the Big 12 Conference two years in a row in 2006 and 2007. He will help anchor a Leopard interior defense that has struggled to stop opponents’ low-post game in the past.
Meanwhile, Pure Youth Construction have brought in big man Rashad Jones-Jennings from the US to fill the spot vacated by Jonathan Sanders.
Turning to the other teams in the league, Taiwan Beer’s offseason acquisition of former Kinmen Liquor forward Cheng Ren-wei and Emmanuel Jones of the US to complement a frontcourt trio consisting of Wu Dai-hao, Doug Creighton and Yang Jing-min should make them the team to beat even with the departure of “the Beast.”
“We are quite certain that this will be the year for us with all the added help we got during the offseason,” Taiwan Beer assistant coach Liu Hua-lin said in the season-opening press conference in Taipei on Thursday afternoon.
Liu and his crew will also enjoy the leadership of point guard Chen Shih-nian and shooting guard Yang Yu-ming, not to mention swingman Ho Sho-cheng, who can play four of the five positions on the floor and has a deadly perimeter game to go with his underrated low-post moves.
While the “Brew Crew” are clearly the preseason favorites to win the title, the Tigers will feature a potent starting five featuring newly signed Keith Gayden of the US, who came highly recommended by his predecessor, Byron Allen, after playing 15 games with in Mexico with the Panteras de Aguascalientes.
In addition to Gayden, Dacin will also have the services of a healthy Tien Lei, who is coming off a solid showing for Taiwan at this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, hoping to forget a subpar campaign filled with nagging injuries last season.
One of the more intriguing stories in the upcoming season involves the decision by the defending champs, the Yulon Luxgens, to do without a foreign player for the eighth straight season.
This could have more of a negative effect this year, as Yulon will sorely miss the penetration and court vision of departed point guard Lee Hsueh-lin.
“Forget about [defending the title], we don’t even know if we can make the playoffs this year with A-ding [star center Tseng Wen-ding] unsigned,” skipper Chang Hsueh-lei said earlier this week about the uncertain status of Tseng, who has also been tempted by a move to China.
Although Tseng has said he would be staying in Taiwan and would likely re-sign with Yulon for at least one more season, Lee’s absence will likely take a toll on the Luxgens’ quest to repeat their success of last season, even with the offseason addition of forward Wu Jien-long, who demonstrated steady improvement in his three-year stint with Pure Youth.
“[Wu] is someone we can definitely count on in terms of his inside presence and durability,” Yulon assistant coach Chiou Chi-yi said on Thursday.
Finally, Kinmen have snatched Sheldon Bailey from the US to beef up its starting five, while Bank of Taiwan are looking to bounce back from back-to-back last-place finishes in the past two seasons under the guidance of head coach Lai Liang-chung.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS