Germany clinched the last place in the 12-nation line-up at the Olympic Games men’s basketball tournament on Sunday with a 96-82 win over Puerto Rico.
Greece and Croatia had qualified on Saturday and, with Germany, will join Angola, Argentina, Australia, hosts China, Iran, Lithuania, Russia, Spain and the US in the Beijing tournament.
Dirk Nowitzki starred for Germany with 32 points on Sunday to lead his team to a fifth Olympics place, but their first since 1992.
They were also aided by the efforts of 2.13m Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman who, courtesy of his great-grandparents, became a naturalized German citizen at the start of the month.
Despite not speaking a world of German, Kaman played a key role on Sunday, scoring 10 points with 12 rebounds.
“I’ve only been here 12 days, but Dirk has waited 12 years for this to happen,” Kaman said. “I can’t even imagine the emotions that he must be feeling at this moment.”
At the Games in Beijing, the 12 teams will be split into two groups of six.
Group A sees defending champions Argentina alongside Australia, Iran, Lithuania, Russia and Croatia while Angola, China, Spain, the US, Greece and Germany make up Group B. In Beijing, the US will be looking for their first gold medal in the event since Sydney in 2000.
Since that time, their much-vaunted collection of NBA stars have suffered a series of setbacks with a humiliating sixth place at the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis and a third place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The US were also third at the 2006 world championships in Japan.
Defending Olympic champions Argentina, world champions Spain and Greece will also be among the gold medal favorites.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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