Failure to convert a free throw off a three-point play by Hung Chih-shan with 30 seconds remaining cost Taiwan the opportunity to tie the game as they fell short to Japan 71-70 in the third game of the 2013 East Asia Basketball Association Championship in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday afternoon.
The loss not only knocked Taiwan out of the medal round, but also denied them an automatic berth in the Asian Championship in Manila in August. Taiwan must now win their game against Mongolia tomorrow to secure the fifth and final spot in the Asian Championship.
Tseng Wen-ding managed to get an offensive rebound off Hung’s miss, but he too could not make the shot, giving Japan the ball with a slim lead that they did not relinquish.
“We had our chances to win, but we just didn’t execute as well as we would’ve liked to. That’s what cost us the game,” Taiwan skipper Hsu Jin-tseh said.
With the automatic berth in the Asian Championship on the line, the score was close from the get go as the two squads played to a 17-all tie through the first 10 minutes. Taiwan then edged ahead with a slightly superior second quarter to lead 35-32 at the half.
However, a 22-15 run in favor of Japan in the third quarter turned the lead into a deficit for Taiwan. Even though Taiwan eventually erased the deficit and led briefly in the fourth quarter, a deadly three-pointer by Japan’s Yuya Nagayoshi with two minutes left gave his team a 67-66 lead.
Japan added a breakaway basket off a Taiwan turnover to lead 69-66 and set up Hung’s potential game-tying three-point play that fell short.
Led by point guard Chang Tsong-hsien’s game-high 21 points, four players scored in double digits for Taiwan, compared with Japan’s three double-digit scorers. However, Japan’s 35-26 rebounding edge proved too much for Taiwan to overcome.
All teams will enjoy a well-deserved rest today, before Taiwan takes on Mongolia in the battle for fifth with tip-off scheduled for 2pm.
In the medal round, South Korea and Japan will represent Group A, while China and Hong Kong will represent Group B in the semi-finals.
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
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