Taiwan proved no match for a superior South Korean squad that took the hosts to school in basketball fundamentals as it dropped a 77-57 decision in the third game at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to fall to a 2-1 record in this year’s Asia University Men’s Basketball Championship.
Top South Korean scorers Kim Min-goo and Kim Jong-kyu had another big day at the office as they shredded through the Taiwanese defense with ease tallying a 38 combined points and 21 rebounds to humble the hosts.
Next up for the Islanders are the Chinese in a must-win game for the home team if they wish to qualify for a chance to play in the semi-finals over the weekend.
China 60, Hong Kong 59
Overcoming a dismal first quarter with a dominant second and third, China built just enough of a lead to hold off a late-game rally by Hong Kong in a thrilling 60-59 triumph in the second game in Sinjhuang last night.
Lin Kai-guan’s potential game-winning attempt with time running out and his team trailing by a point, bounced off the rim to give the Chinese a narrow victory, avoiding what would have been a total embarrassment for them.
Seven first-quarter points by Lee Chi paced Hong Kong to a fast start in the opening frame that saw the Chinese trailing their brethrens to the south in a 15-12 affair. However, Wei Meng later did as he pleased against a smaller opposition on a 24-point night to seize a nine-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
Mongolia 90, Philippines 70
Unbeaten Mongolia won its third straight contest in the tournament by roughing up the Philippines 90-70 to fall into a tie for first place with South Korea. Another great all-round effort by Tungalag Sanchir, whose game-high 24 points with seven rebounds and five assists led a Mongolian attack that rang up 49 second-half points.
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