Sat, Dec 12, 2009 page20

• Taiwan loses basketball cliffhanger

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH AFP
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  The Taiwanese men’s basketball team fought a cliffhanger gold medal match against South Korea at the East Asian Games yesterday, but lost the game by one point in the final minutes.

  South Korea beat Taiwan 98-97, leaving Taiwan’s final hope of winning a gold medal yesterday in tatters.

  The Taiwanese women’s basketball team also had to settle for silver after they received a 83-58 drubbing from China. Japan won the women’s bronze medal match by defeating South Korea 86-77.

  

  Taiwan’s Chang Ming-huang competes in the men’s shot put final at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong yesterday. Chang won the silver medal.

  PHOTO: REUTERS

  Chang Ming-huang of Taiwan won silver in the men’s shot put with a distance of 18.33m, failing to match gold medalist Zhang Jun of China’s 20.41m.

  China also defeated Taiwan in the women’s four rowing final.

  Former world record holder Liu Xiang of China coasted to victory in the 110m hurdles, easing back into contention after a long injury lay-off.

  

  Chang Chi-feng of Taiwan goes to the hoop over South Korea during the men’s basketball final at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong yesterday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  The biggest name at the Games and one of China’s most celebrated sportsmen, Liu strolled home in a leisurely time of 13.66 seconds in front of a sell-out crowd of 3,500 at Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground.

  The 2004 Olympic champion had time to slow up at the line as compatriot Ji Wei came in a distant second and South Korea’s Park Tae-Kyong took bronze.

  “I felt a bit tired because it’s the last race of the season, but I’m quite pleased with my performance,” Liu told a throng of more than 100 journalists at a packed post-race news conference.

  

  China’s Liu Xiang, center, leads in the men’s 110m hurdles heat during the athletics competition at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong yesterday. Liu won his heat ahead of Taiwan’s Ko Wen-bin, second left, who came third, Japan’s Yume Moses, second right, who came second, Macau’s Long Kim Fai, right, and Hong Kong’s Leung Ka-Hei, left. Ko was sixth in the final standings.

  PHOTO: AFP

  “I’m very happy to win the gold although the time was not great,” the 26-year-old said, adding that only more competitive racing would bring back his sharpness.

  The winning time was well off Liu’s former world record time of 12.88, and the 13.15 he ran in September when he finished second to US rival Terrence Trammell in his first race after surgery.

  The world record of 12.87 was set by Cuba’s Dayron Robles in June last year.

  Liu’s appearance was his fourth — and slowest — since the Achilles injury that forced him out of last year’s Beijing Olympics and saw him undergo surgery in the US in December last year.

  Asked if he thought he could again break the world record, a tired-looking Liu, who at one point during the press conference slumped back in his chair and puffed his cheeks out, was cagey.

  “It will be difficult to break the record but my aim next year is to get below 13 seconds,” he said, also putting his fatigue down to waking up at 6am for the heat in the morning.

  Games officials had beefed up security for Liu’s appearance in light of the intense media and ­public interest that surrounds him.

  But the superstar said he was unfazed by all the attention.

  “I have got used to it since Athens and I am getting more accustomed to it,” he said.

  At the 2004 Athens Games, Liu became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic track gold medal, propelling him to superstar status back home and earning him lucrative sponsorship deals.

  China, who have brought a strong team to Hong Kong, added to their haul with victories in track and field, men’s diving, rowing and women’s weightlifting.

  The Games, which feature nine teams and 22 sports, conclude tomorrow.
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