Outplayed by South Korea in every facet of the game, Taiwan fell short 75-57 in the bronze medal game of the FIBA Asia Championship in Manila last night to close out the tournament in fourth place.
Poor ball-handling against a fundamentally sound South Korea defense led to several unforced turnovers for Taiwan, several of which came during fast-break opportunities that cost the Islanders numerous easy scoring chances.
To make matters worse, most of the turnovers committed by Taiwan in the transition game would translate into fast-break points for South Korea on the other end of the floor, keeping Taiwan from gathering any kind of momentum.
“Taiwan were clearly affected by the loss to Iran in the semi-final as far as their ability to secure the ball was concerned,” basketball commentator Yen Hsing-shu said after the game.
The 17 self-destructing turnovers committed by Taiwan yesterday matched their turnover total in the loss to Iran on Saturday, making any comeback attempt virtually impossible.
Six quick points by South Korea sharpshooter Kim Joo-sung in the opening minutes helped his team take a 14-5 lead midway through the first quarter. South Korea shot better than 75 percent in a high-scoring first quarter to establish a commanding 29-13 advantage.
South Korea maintained their dominance in the second quarter, with Kim Min-goo coming off the bench to pour in 13 of his team’s 21 points in the quarter. The deficit quickly grew to an insurmountable 50-29 for Taiwan at the half, making the eventual loss a foregone conclusion long before the final buzzer sounded.
Kim Min-goo ended up with an outstanding eight-for-14 from the field for a game-high 21 points to lead a trio of double-digit scorers for the victors.
As for Taiwan, Lu Chen-ju with a team-high 13 points — six of which were in the first quarter — and Quincy Davis with a dozen, marked the two bright spots for the team that had edged past South Korea by three in the Jones Cup Tournament last month to surprise their foes from the north.
In the title game between undefeated Iran and the Philippines, it was Iran who had the last laugh, as they rolled past the hosts 85-71 to claim their third gold medal in the tournament.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS