The Taiwan Mobile Cloud Leopards fell short by 10 to the Golden Bulls of China’s Zhejiang Chouzhou, dropping an 87-77 decision in the last day of play of this year’s Taiwan Strait Cup at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City last night to end with a 1-2 record and third place.
Fresh off a big win over Pure Youth Construction the night before to break into the win column, the Cats expected to put up a good fight against the Golden Bulls heading into the battle.
However, a dismal start that saw the visitors opened the contest with a 24-12 lead after one quarter of play quickly changed that line of thought.
Even though the Leopards chipped away at the deficit in an improved second quarter — with Kwame Alexander leading the way — and actually tied the game in the third quarter with several big three-pointers, it did not affect the outcome of the match as the Chinese team showed off their bench depth and better conditioning with a superior fourth quarter to run away with the victory.
Four players scored in double digits for the Golden Bulls, led by Jiang Kai and Wu Chien’s 21 and 20 points respectively, while Alexander’s solid 27-point outing with 13 boards for the Leopards topped all scorers.
PURE YOUTH 74, GOLDEN LIONS 58
Pure Youth Construction avoided being swept in the tournament by topping the Tianjin Ronggang Golden Lions in a 74-58 score in the final game of the three-day competition last night to settle with a 1-2 mark.
Having already claimed the title with a pair of impressive wins earlier, the Lions opened the contest with a rather lethargic start as they trailed the Builders 24-12 after one quarter of play.
Trouble continued for the visitors as they were held to seven meager points in the second quarter, with the Builders dominating on both ends of the floor.
Even though the Lions would play up to their potential with a strong third that saw them outscore the Builders 23-12, it did not stop the three-time defending champs of the SBL from wrapping up the win in a 24-point fourth quarter.
Leading the way for the victorious Builders was newcomer Justin Manns, who racked up 19 points in another solid performance to help his team in a must-win game.
Also starring was Tsai Wen-cheng, who netted 16 with eight rebounds to bounce back from a subpar effort in Saturday night’s loss to the Leopards.
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