Taiwan proved no match for Iran in their second game of the final round, losing a 98-66 decision to the defending champs to drop out of contention for a fifth-place finish in this year’s FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, yesterday afternoon.
The absence of point guard Lee Hsueh-lin, who was out with a cut above his left eye from Friday night’s game, prompted skipper Chou Jung-san to start reserve Chen Shih-nian, who filled in nicely for Lee with a solid effort off the bench.
However, Chen’s effort was far from sufficient to claim the Islanders victory over favored Iran, who vented their frustration following an upset to Jordan on Friday, which cost them a chance to win their third straight title, by dominating Taiwan in every facet of the game from the get-go, en route to a blowout win.
Photo: AFP
Heading the towering Iran attack was center Hamed Hadadi, whose game-high 21 points and 14 rebounds marked the second straight game that an opposing center had thrashed Taiwan’s interior defense, with Philippines big man Marcus Douthit doing as he pleased in a 37-point outing the night before.
Also starring for Iran were outside threat Hamed Afagh and guard Mahdi Kamrany, who converted 6 of 11 from behind the three-point line and slashed through Taiwan’s defense with several strong drives to the basket, combining for 36 points and keeping Taiwan on their heels the entire game.
For Taiwan, who never looked comfortable running their half-court offense, the bulk of the scoring burden fell on big men Wu Tai-hao and Tseng Wen-ding, the former with 16 points and the latter nailing an unusual 3 of 4 from behind the three-point line in a 13-point effort.
Failure to box out Iran on both ends of the floor also led to a huge disparity in total rebounds as Iran had a lopsided 54-24 advantage, 22 of which came off the offensive glass.
Next up for Taiwan in the battle for a seventh-place finish are Japan, who lost to Lebanon in their second game of the final round last night. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30pm at the Wuhan Sports Complex.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS