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.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday hit an unbeaten 127 as India pulled off a record chase of 339 against Australia to set up a Women’s World Cup final against South Africa. Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit 89, put on 167 runs for the third wicket as India won with nine balls and five wickets to spare at DY Patil Stadium, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The hosts finished on a total of 341-5 in reply to Australia’s impressive 338 and ensured there would be a new name on the 50-over trophy tomorrow. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning boundary to trigger wild celebrations
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
RSS