In a Taipei version of “March Madness” basketball yesterday, Nanshan High School clinched the High School Basketball League (HBL) women’s division title, while Neng Ren Vocational High School secured the men’s division title.
The ever-popular sports tournament drew a capacity crowd to Taipei Arena — even President Tsai Ing-wen watched the women’s final with about 15,000 other spectators.
Tsai was joined courtside by Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung and Sports Development Committee deputy convenor Yu Cheng-hsien to see New Taipei City’s Nanshan High School edge out Tainan’s Yong Ren High School 65-61 to become HBL champions.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Afterward, Tsai posed for photographs with Nanshan players as part of the post-game celebration.
“I came to the final today so that I could soak up the youthful energy and enthusiasm of these high schoolers,” Tsai said. “These young athletes gave everything they had, with such fighting spirit. In my high-school days, the games were not so competitive.”
“HBL is your once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Tsai said, quoting the league’s slogan for this year’s finals, adding that she wanted to “experience Taiwan’s own version of March Madness in high school sports.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
In the US, “March Madness” refers to a month-long basketball tournament in which top university teams vie for the yearly championship title. The event is one of the most popular US sporting events and captures top TV ratings.
In Taiwan, the HBL and its championship tournament are well-received by the younger generation and sports fans, with the games attracting larger audiences than for Super Basketball League match-ups, which feature semi-professional adult players.
The HBL finals, held in the Taipei Arena last year, but in Kaohsiung and other cities in previous years, are consistently packed to capacity, with TV networks paying princely sums for the broadcasting rights.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
By contrast, university games draw less enthusiasm.
Commentators have said that collegiate sports typically lack funding and tend to be neglected, as university students focus more on academics or on their social lives.
At halftime, the men’s final was tied 30-30, but sharp outside shooting by Neng Ren Vocational High School gave them a lead of 57-50 at the buzzer, allowing them to seize the title out from under challengers Nanshan High School.
It was the third HBL men’s title for Neng Ren Vocational High School and the second women’s title for Nanshan High School.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has found itself divided ahead of their two Nations League clashes with Israel, with the players disagreeing over whether to boycott the first game today and goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrawing from the squad. After hours of fraught meetings among the players and occasionally involving coaches and officials, FAI chief executive officer David Courell said at a news conference that had been delayed by several hours that a “significant majority” of the squad had agreed to play the game in Hungary, but it was far from a unanimous decision. The handful of Irish journalists present questioned Courell
MORE MEDALS: Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team added a bronze to the nation’s medal haul, while the women’s basketball team advanced to the semi-finals Taiwan yesterday secured their first e-sports medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, claiming bronze in the Naraka: Bladepoint tournament after falling 0-3 to China in the semi-finals. The Taiwanese squad, comprising Liu Tang-shiun, Chen Shang-yi, Cheng Hsu-yu, Yen Kai-en and Yeh Chih-yu, had already secured a place on the podium when they advanced to the final four as the runners-up in their preliminary group. The bronze is first e-sports medal Taiwan has won at this year’s Asian Games. Naraka: Bladepoint is a game in which the players fight each other to be the last one standing. The game incorporates martial arts-inspired melee combat. TABLE
CONFUSION, DISORDER: Late-coming entrants and insufficient logistics have given this year’s Games a shoddy execution, the organizing committee’s head said The chief organizer of the Asian Games apologized yesterday for the logistical headaches plaguing the event, saying a late influx of athletes and officials had made it difficult to run smoothly. The number of participants at the continental showpiece ballooned to 17,000 following a flurry of late entries — about 2,000 more than the organizing committee had initially projected. The unexpected surge strained accommodation and transport networks, prompting complaints from athletes and team officials over cramped rooms, small beds and travel delays. “There have been mistakes in accommodation and transport, for various reasons,” AINAGOC secretary-general Satoshi Murate told a press conference. “Whatever the
The Asian Games has crowned teenage champions before, but this edition has witnessed stunning successes by child prodigies, including Yuki Kurihara standing atop the podium aged just 11. The Japanese primary school student beat opponents three times his age on the way to a historic gold in e-sports in Nagoya. He is Japan’s youngest Asian Games winner in history and almost certainly the youngest the Games have ever seen. Kurihara did not even react after taking home the gold in Saturday’s final in Puyo Puyo Champions, a puzzle game where players try to clear their screen of colored blobs by lining them up
RSS