The annual William Jones Cup international basketball invitational tournament hosted by Taiwan is slated to tip off at Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taipei next month after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the national basketball governing body CTBA said on Wednesday.
At a news conference held for the tournament, association president Hsieh Tien-lin (謝典林) announced the return of the tournament, which is to have six female teams and nine male teams competing from Aug. 5 to 9 and from Aug. 12 to 20 respectively.
Last year, despite the Taiwan-based organization’s efforts, the tournament was ultimately canceled, because teams from other countries were unwilling to follow point-to-point movement restrictions and mandatory quarantine that was still compulsory in Taiwan at that time.
Photo: CNA
“Our players have not been able to play with teams from many countries for three years. I believe the experience will definitely help us in the [Hangzhou] Asian Games if our players and coaching staffers can learn a lot from the William Jones Cup,” said Sang Mao-sen (桑茂森), who coaches the Taiwanese men’s Blue team.
Each group in the tournament includes two teams from Taiwan, blue teams, consisting of the main roster of Taiwan’s national team, and white teams, made up of younger players who have the potential to represent the national team in the future.
Taiwan’s women are to square off against teams from South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Iran, while Taiwan’s men are set to defend their home turf against South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Qatar, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and the US, the association said.
Liu Cheng (劉錚), a 32-year-old veteran forward on the men’s blue team, said the group training of one to two months was not quite enough, but he promised to “lead by example.”
Also in the blue team is 23-year-old Benson Lin (林庭謙), whose first two outings in the tournament were in the white team.
Asked to comment on his mindset coming into the tournament, Lin said he expects to play a bigger role this year in the absence of Ray Chen (陳盈駿), who could miss the William Jones Cup due to an ankle operation.
Chen, 30, is a two-time Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) All-Star, who averaged 16.7 points and 7.3 assists per game for the Guangzhou Loong Lions in the 2022-2023 season and has agreed to a three-year extension with the CBA club last month.
Sang said whether Chen can play depends on how well he recovers, but the priority would be the Asian Games in late September.
Meanwhile, the men’s white team sees two new faces, Taiwanese-American brothers Adam Hinton and Robert Hinton, who play for Cornell University in the NCAA Division I in the US and have committed to Harvard University.
Tickets to the Taiwan-hosted tournament can be bought on ticketing platform ERA Ticket.
Held in Taiwan since 1977, the tournament was named after British basketball promoter Renato William Jones, the first secretary-general of the International Basketball Federation, the sport’s world-governing body, a post he held for 44 years from 1932.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
RSS