More than 10,000 hoops fans are expected to flock to the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City at 7:30pm tomorrow to cheer on Team Taiwan against Japan in the opener of the 33rd William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament.
With most this year’s participants having already secured a spot in the upcoming Asian Championship in Wuhan, China, the annual mid-summer basketball classic will promise an all-out effort from each squad as they look to showcase the results of their months of preparation and perhaps land a higher seeding for the championship.
Seeking to improve on their fifth-place finish of a year ago, the Taiwanese national squad will be led by head coach Chou Chun-san (a Taiwan Beer assistant coach), who is making his debut at the helm after being named to the post less than six months ago.
Chou will receive plenty of support form technical adviser Bob Hill, a former NBA coach, and assistant coach Hsu Chin-che (Pure Youth Construction) as he leads a crew that features the potent frontcourt trio of Chen “Airman” Hsin-an, Lin “The Beast” Chih-chieh and former Yulon Luxgens great Tseng Wen-ding, which should pose a serious threat to their opponents.
Rounding out the starting five are backcourt tandem Chen Shih-nian (Taiwan Beer) and Lin Hsueh-lin, who have been regulars on the national squad for the past few years.
The United Arab Emirates will make their first appearance in the competition this year, which also includes the defending champs from Iran and perennial powerhouse Jordan, who won the title three years ago, along with Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea.
South Africa had committed to make the trip to Taiwan as recently as last week, before canceling this week because of funding difficulties, leaving just eight teams to do battle.
Unlike last year’s competition, which did not have a medal round, this year’s play will feature a round-robin preliminary round before a medal round on the final two days of competition.
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Brentford striker Yoane Wissa says he wants to leave the English Premier League club and that it is “unduly standing in my way.” A day before the end of soccer’s summer transfer period, Wissa posted a lengthy statement on social media yesterday criticizing Brentford for rejecting an apparent offer from another Premier League club despite his willingness to switch between the teams. Wissa, a reported target for Newcastle, is yet to play for Brentford this season and had already removed any association with the club from his Instagram account. Yesterday, the 28-year-old DR Congo international took it a step further on the social
RSS