The men’s games of the annual William Jones Cup are to begin this weekend at a new venue built for the Taipei Universiade, with the nation’s two teams seeking to unseat defending champions the Philippines.
The 39th edition of Taiwan’s top international basketball tournament is to feature a total of 10 men’s teams competing from Saturday to July 23.
“We will serve up five action-packed basketball games each day for nine straight days beginning on Saturday,” Chinese Taipei Basketball Association chairman Ting Shou-chung said yesterday at a launch event.
“All the teams are ready to go, and competition will be fierce because of the top-quality players who have improved the competition’s level each year,” he said.
“This year will be very different because of the Taipei Universiade next month. Many players will participate as members of their national teams. Jones Cup games are part of their preparation,” he added.
All Jones Cup men’s games are to be held at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium near the intersection of Sinhai and Keelung roads.
In Saturday’s openers, India are to take on Iraq, hosts Taiwan A are to renew their traditional rivalry with South Korea and Canada are to face the Philippines (represented by Gilas Pilipinas) in the afternoon.
That night, Iran are to battle against Lithuania (represented by Atletas All-Star), while Taiwan B are to host Japan in what is likely to be another heated affair between Asian rivals.
Taiwan A head coach Chou Chun-san said that training sessions in Australia over the past month were helpful, as they played against Australian teams comprised of bigger and stronger players; games that provided good lessons and valuable experience.
“I am looking for veterans and key players, such as Liu Cheng, Chou Yi-hsiang and Lu Cheng-ju, to provide leadership for the younger members of the team,” Chou Chun-san said.
“Besides traditional Asian rivals, I also look forward to the games against Canada and Lithuania, because they have a height advantage and they play with European and North American styles, which we seldom have the chance to play against in key international competitions,” he added.
In the women’s competition, Japan were awarded the title after all games were completed on Sunday.
Taiwan A, New Zealand and Japan finished in a three-way tie on 4-1 records.
The final standings were determined based on point difference, with Taiwan A taking second place and New Zealand third.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed