Preliminary-round action in the annual University Basketball Association (UBA) tournament commenced at I-Shou University in Kaohsiung yesterday afternoon with New Taipei City’s Tungnan University edging past Hualien’s National Dong Hwa University in a 79-78 thriller.
Hsiang Peng-an’s free throw off a shooting foul with 0.8 seconds remaining in the contest capped a tremendous rally by Tungnan, who trailed by as many as 16 points in the third quarter to upset Dong Hwa in the opener.
It was a big win for Tungnan as it celebrated its return to Division I play for the first time in four years, putting the once-prominent basketball powerhouse in northern Taiwan back on the map for the first time since 2006.
“Even though we don’t have the size or the speed to be a top-notch club just yet, we make up for it with our determination and will to win,” Hsiang said after the game.
The tallest player on his team stands at a mere 190cm, well short of the norm by today’s standards.
As for Dong Hwa, who led for the first three quarters before resting starter Chen Kwei-hsiang in the fourth quarter, the move proved costly, as Chen’s return to action seemed too little too late for skipper Lin Ju-han.
“Losing two key players from last year’s team will really hurt us this year, but we’ll manage and continue to improve,” Lin said after the game.
He lost Chang Hao-rei and Lee Hao-kang to the SBL and the league’s age limitation for players at 25 respectively at the start of this season.
NATIONAL TAIWAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 82, TAIPEI PHYSICAL EDUCATION COLLEGE 76
Lu Hsueh-leng’s clutch deuce, followed by four straight free throws by other teammates, broke a 76-all tie with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game.
The play put National Taiwan College of Physical Education ahead for the rest of the game as they defeated Taipei Physical Education College in the second game at I-Shou University yesterday.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later