Previously undefeated Philippines stumbled against Lebanon in the biggest upset of the William Jones Cup tournament so far, falling 91-72 short of the Middle Easterners at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in Tianmu yesterday afternoon to settle with a 4-1 record.
The loss not only put the Philippines virtually out of title contention as they look to another uphill battle against the undefeated defending champs from Iran this afternoon, but also heightens the stakes in tomorrow night’s showdown between Taiwan and Lebanon, with the winner likely to end with a fourth-place finish.
Naturalized standout Jarrid Famous led the way for Lebanon with 11 points in the first quarter that saw his team take a surprise 22-15 advantage against the favored Philippines. That was all they needed to pull off the upset as Elie Stephan poured in 11 in the second quarter to spearhead Lebanon to a double-digit halftime lead before the eventual victory.
United States 95, Japan 73
The US bounced back from a double-overtime loss to Iran on Wednesday with a convincing 95-73 win over Japan in the early game in Tianmu yesterday afternoon, thanks to a 32-point second quarter that gave the US a 51-40 lead at the half.
Five US players scored in double-figures on the night, with speedy guard James Justice leading the way. The 1.77m native of Memphis, Tennessee, was more than his Japanese counterpart could handle as he shot an impressive six-for-eight from the field for a team-high 18 points.
In other Cup play, it was:
‧ South Korea 105, Jordan 84
‧ Iran 83, Taiwan Guan-hua 71
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier