Taiwan punched their own ticket into the title game on the final day of the preliminaries in this year’s Asia University Men’s Basketball Championship by dominating Mongolia in a 97-59 victory at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night for the right to take on undefeated South Korea later this afternoon.
Fourteen first-quarter points by guard Chiang Yu-an set the tone early for the hosts as they dominated the heirs of Genghis Khan from the get-go by opening a double-digit lead in the first quarter.
By the time Mongolia realized what had happened in the halftime intermission, the Taiwanese had already taken an unrelinquishable 49-28 advantage.
“We learned a thing or two from South Korea in their game against Mongolia and tried to work it into our game plan tonight and it worked really well for us,” a very pleased Taiwanese skipper Lu Ching-shan said after the game.
His troops put on tremendous pressure against the Mongolian ball handlers to overwhelm the opposition, a strategy that proved effective.
Center Lin Chih-wei also had a big day at the office by racking up 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocked-shots to champion an inside attack that met little resistance from a bigger Mongolian front court trio.
Philippines 62, China 61
Overcoming a nine-point deficit at the half, the Philippines rallied from behind with a solid second half and held off a late-game push by China to escape with a 62-61 win in Sinjhuang yesterday afternoon.
Trailing by one with eight seconds remaining in the game, China had a chance to reclaim the lead with the final possession of the ball.
However, a costly turnover by Ji Yang-hong with one second remaining denied China such an opportunity and they suffered a disheartening loss that kept them from reaching the title game.
South Korea 96, Hong Kong 44
South Korea easily won their fifth straight game in the preliminaries by humbling Hong Kong in a 96-44 affair yesterday afternoon to storm into the title game with a perfect 5-0 record.
Hong Kong only managed a dozen points in a dismal first half against a tenacious South Korean defense that made even taking a shot a formidable task.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was