Taiwan proved to be no match for South Korea in the semi-finals of this year’s East Asia Basketball Championship, falling short by eight points in a 69-61 loss at the Olympic Sports Center in Nanjing, China, yesterday afternoon to end their quest for the gold.
An 8-0 run by South Korea in the opening minutes set the tone as Taiwan found themselves playing catch-up virtually the entire way.
Even though Taiwan were able to force a tie at 44-all late in the third quarter with the outstanding play of Chen Hsin-an and Wu Dai-hao (of the Taiwan Beer), that was as close as they got as their neighbors from the north came up with rally-killing buckets one after another in the final frame to deny Taiwan the chance of a miraculous finish.
Photo: AFP
After the 8-0 run put South Korea ahead 11-4, Taiwan skipper Chou Jung-san (an assistant coach with Taiwan Beer) was forced to call a timeout to regroup his crew.
However, that did not hold South Korea back as the first quarter came to an end with the South leading 19-11.
South Korea upped their lead to double-digits midway through the second quarter, before a 6-0 run by Taiwan helped keep the gap to under 10 at 35-28 at the half.
Three-pointers by Chen and Wu eventually took Taiwan to a tie at 44-all in the third that nearly took South Korea off course.
However, that wasn’t the case as South Korea managed to keep a lead the rest of the way despite a fierce rally by Taiwan that cut a seven-point deficit to a close 63-61 with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
After Chou opted to freeze the clock by sending his opponent to the free-throw line, South Korea were able to convert all but one of their free throws in the final minute of the game to run away with an eight-point victory.
Next up for Taiwan in the battle for the bronze will be China, who lost to Japan 72-62 in yesterday’s other semi-final contest.
Tip-off is scheduled for 4pm this afternoon with the final between South Korea and Japan set to start at 7:30pm this evening.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite