Taiwan’s women’s basketball squad were victorious in their opening match of the Asian Games in Indonesia yesterday, but the men’s soccer team was thrashed by Hong Kong 4-0.
In women’s basketball, control guard Peng Szu-chin lit up the scoreboard with a game-high 16 points and four assists as Taiwan cruised past Kazakhstan 72-42 in their opening Group A game at the BGK Basketball Hall in Jakarta.
Huang Ping-jen had a well-balanced performance, recording 14 points, four assists, six rebounds and seven steals.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan’s solid defense limited Kazakhstan to only six and 12 points in the first two quarters respectively, lifting them to a 36-18 lead at halftime, which they extended to the 30-point victory margin.
Center Nadezhda Kondrakova was Kazakhstan’s top scorer with 11 points and was the only player to post double digits for the team.
Taiwan’s quick pace and alert defense caused significant trouble for their opposition, recording 21 steals compared with only seven for Kazakhstan, who also committed 29 turnovers, more than double Taiwan’s 14.
In men’s soccer, Taiwan did not fare remotely well in an impressive 4-0 rout by Hong Kong in their Group A match at Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi.
It was virtually a must-win match for Taiwan, who had earned one point in a hard-fought 0-0 draw against Palestine in their opening match, but then fell 4-0 to hosts Indonesia in the second match, with all four goals recorded in the second half.
Attacking midfielder Tan Chun Lok opened the account in the fifth minute on a header after a throw-in, as Taiwan’s defense left large gaps that Tan took advantage of.
Four minutes later, striker Jordi Tarres received a pass and raced into a one-on-one against Taiwan goalkeeper Pan Wen-chieh.
After Tarres slotted a low drive past Pan for Hong Kong’s second goal, the referees ignored Taiwan’s players, who said that Tarres and a teammate were offside. A video replay indicated that they were offside, but the goal stood.
Defensive lapses continued to plague Taiwan, with one failure to pick up attackers resulting in Tan scoring in the 37th minute in a similar fashion to his opening goal — on a header after a throw-in.
Four minutes later, Tarres also recorded a brace when he received a centering pass and tucked the ball past an advancing Pan to put Hong Kong up 4-0 by halftime.
Taiwan pressed for a goal, but failed to capitalize on their few chances in the second half.
The loss left Taiwan fourth in their five-team group and with only a slim chance to advance to the next round.
They will aim for a victory in their final group-stage match against Laos on Monday next week.
Separately yesterday, Japan stormed back after falling behind early to win their third-place match against Taiwan in the Asian Men’s Volleyball Cup in Taipei.
Japan trailed after two sets, but rallied against Taiwan’s tiring players to take a 21-25, 20-25, 32-30, 29-27, 17-15 victory.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TSG (Taiwan Steel Group) Tainan won the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) title for a fifth straight season on Sunday, while the Kaohsiung Attackers a week earlier emerged as champions for the first time in the women’s league. In the final round of the TFPL, TSG rested most of their important players for the home match at Yonghua Stadium in Tainan. They had 46 points prior to the game and were already guaranteed to finish in first place. Their opponent, Hang Yuan FC, were led by midfielder Chen Po-ying, who scored two goals, first with a curving shot just inside
RSS