The women’s basketball team gave the nation another lift yesterday when they defeated Canada 76-67 in their quarter-finals at the Taipei Arena.
Their surprising win in a field of tough opponents continued hoops fans’ buoyant mood following the men’s 80-76 victory over South Korea on Thursday night.
Forward Lo Pin scored a game-high 16 points, one of four Taiwan players with scores in the double digits.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The hosts were ahead by one after the first quarter, stretched the lead to 35-29 at halftime and held firm in the second half to win by nine.
In other results, Japan’s baseball team are set to make the semi-finals after defeating Asian archrivals South Korea by one run yesterday.
Pitchers dominated the low-scoring affair, keeping the game at 1-1 over the first five innings.
Photo: CNA
In the sixth, first baseman Tatsuki Ohira tagged South Korea starting pitcher Seol Jae-min for a solo homer to lift Japan into the lead for their eventual 2-1 victory.
Japan’s middle reliever Masato Morishita mowed down the South Korea hitters with six strikeouts, while closer Wataru Matsumoto threw the final six outs.
The Samurai Warriors are to take on the Czech Republic today in their second playoff game.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Japan are favored to make the final, which is to take place at Taipei’s Tianmu Stadium on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Team Taiwan played Mexico yesterday in the consolation round for fifth to eight place after South Korea beat them 6-3 on Wednesday, eliminating the hosts from medal contention.
The national baseball squad have been a flop, losing to France and South Korea by committing costly errors and making bad plays.
Trying to make it up to their fans, Team Taiwan collected 14 hits, including three home-runs, in their 11-1 thrashing of Mexico.
Taiwan starting pitcher Shih Tzu-chien had a quality outing, giving up only one run on six hits over seven innings.
Second baseman Wu Chieh-jui led all batters with two homers for four RBIs and three runs.
The hosts are to take on Russia today for their second contest of the consolation round.
In women’s volleyball yesterday, Russia booked their place in the final four by pummeling Thailand in three straight sets, while Ukraine had a tougher time, defeating France 3-2.
In the men’s volleyball preliminaries, Japan defeated France 3-1, while the other games saw three straight-set victories for Canada over Iran, Russia over Chile and Argentina over the United Arab Emirates.
In the men’s water polo quarter-finals, France’s swimmers blasted Britain 13-4, Italy downed the Netherlands 6-4 and Serbia edged out Hungary 9-7.
In the women’s water polo preliminary round, Australia destroyed Argentina 22-1, Hungary routed New Zealand 15-4, Russia shaded Japan 18-14, Canada hammered the UK 24-5, the US thrashed Greece 18-3 and Italy defeated France 8-5.
In men’s soccer, Japan advanced into the semi-finals after their 6-0 win yesterday over defending champions Italy.
They were joined for medal contention by Mexico, who shut out Ukraine 2-0, and Uruguay, who squeaked a 1-0 win over Russia.
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