Taiwan players and coaches said they are looking forward to battling fierce East Asian rivals Japan, South Korea and the Philippines when the 38th William Jones Cup basketball tournament gets under way on Saturday at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City.
With the theme “Back to Honor” for this year’s tournament, nine teams, including the US — represented by California State University, Sacramento — Iran, Egypt and India, as well as the four East Asian entries, are to play in the week-long competition with the last game on July 31.
The Philippines are represented by Mighty Sports, a perennial powerhouse in the Pilipinas Commercial Basketball League, who have three championships in the Republica Cup in 2013, 2014 and this year.
As hosts, Taiwan have two entries.
Team A — made up of the international squad — are led by head coach Yen Chia-hua, while Team B are under the control of head coach Charlie Henry Parker, who was formerly with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Hornets as an assistant coach.
Yen said it has not been easy to get all the players together for training sessions and to devise game strategy, because a few top stars, such as veteran Tseng Wen-ting and forward Lu Cheng-ju, were recuperating from injuries, while the national squad is in a transition phase.
Yen said he is trying to rebuild, bringing through up-and-coming youngsters.
“Although we only had a short time to prepare for this competition, the players have trained diligently every day,” Yen said at a news conference yesterday.
“I see our team are peaking at the right time and I have confidence in the new crop of young players to lead us to winning ways,” he said.
Team A small forward Liu Cheng said the top team was prepared.
“We have eagerly prepared for the games against Japan and South Korea, to see how we match up against them. They play with a similar style and pace as us, but we certainly would like to win in front of our home crowd,” Liu said.
“There is also the tough Philippines team. They have big, strong men. It is always a competitive, highly charged match against them,” he said.
Team B are composed of younger players who are eligible for next year’s Universiade in Taipei.
Basketball officials said Team B are playing to gain valuable experience against high-level foreign squads.
“I am building this team around defense,” Parker said. “We can win games when we play great defense, but I also train them to play with the exciting style of the Golden State Warriors, with quick transitions from defense to offense.”
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
RSS