The much anticipated 35th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament begins at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City on July 6 with the hosts looking to make a serious run for a top-three finish against some tough international opponents.
The annual mid-summer basketball classic that began in Taipei 34 years ago to promote the sport will feature two local teams, the Taiwan national team and Team Kuang-hua, which is made up of mostly college and second-tier Super Basketball League (SBL) players, as well as Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, South Korea and the US in a nine-day competition to be played in a round-robin format.
Due to the conflict between Taiwan and the Philippines sparked by the shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman, the defending champions from Manila were not invited to this year’s competition.
Photo: Tsao Chia-ping, Taipei Times
No medal rounds are scheduled in this year’s competition as the final standings will be based strictly on the results of the round-robin games with a set of tiebreaking rules in place in case teams finish with identical records.
Looking to improve upon their second straight fourth-placed finish in the tournament las year, the Taiwan national team will be led by Pure Youth Construction skipper Hsu Jin-tseh, who led the Builders to back-to-back titles in the SBL for the first time last season.
Hsu will have a very different lineup to work with in preparation for the upcoming Asian Championship in the Philippines in August compared with past seasons, with recently naturalized center Quincy Davis (formerly of the US) leading a crew that includes center Tseng Wen-ding, scoring threat and captain Lin “the Beast” Chih-jeh, as well as Chang Tsong-hsien and Lee Hsueh-lin — the projected starting five.
Other than the US, the remaining six visiting countries are sending their national team to this year’s tournament as they look to “test the water” against the other Asian teams in preparation for the Asian Championship.
“We’ve practiced very hard for [the William Jones Cup] and we will take the opportunity to tune our team for the upcoming Asian Championship,” Hsu said at a pre-tournament press conference in New Taipei City yesterday afternoon.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS