More than 10,000 hoops fans are expected to flock to the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City at 7:30pm tomorrow to cheer on Team Taiwan against Japan in the opener of the 33rd William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament.
With most this year’s participants having already secured a spot in the upcoming Asian Championship in Wuhan, China, the annual mid-summer basketball classic will promise an all-out effort from each squad as they look to showcase the results of their months of preparation and perhaps land a higher seeding for the championship.
Seeking to improve on their fifth-place finish of a year ago, the Taiwanese national squad will be led by head coach Chou Chun-san (a Taiwan Beer assistant coach), who is making his debut at the helm after being named to the post less than six months ago.
Chou will receive plenty of support form technical adviser Bob Hill, a former NBA coach, and assistant coach Hsu Chin-che (Pure Youth Construction) as he leads a crew that features the potent frontcourt trio of Chen “Airman” Hsin-an, Lin “The Beast” Chih-chieh and former Yulon Luxgens great Tseng Wen-ding, which should pose a serious threat to their opponents.
Rounding out the starting five are backcourt tandem Chen Shih-nian (Taiwan Beer) and Lin Hsueh-lin, who have been regulars on the national squad for the past few years.
The United Arab Emirates will make their first appearance in the competition this year, which also includes the defending champs from Iran and perennial powerhouse Jordan, who won the title three years ago, along with Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea.
South Africa had committed to make the trip to Taiwan as recently as last week, before canceling this week because of funding difficulties, leaving just eight teams to do battle.
Unlike last year’s competition, which did not have a medal round, this year’s play will feature a round-robin preliminary round before a medal round on the final two days of competition.
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
ONE GAME LEFT: ‘We 100 percent believe that this is the team,’ Kagiso Rabada said when asked if this team could end South Africa’s long World Cup drought A long, tortuous World Cup title drought is closer than ever to ending for South Africa after a nine-wicket win over first-time semi-finalist Afghanistan at the global T20 World Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada set the foundations for the lopsided victory with destructive opening bursts of pace bowling to have Afghanistan reeling at 20-4 in the fourth over, and eventually all out for a paltry 56. The South Africans lost just one wicket in pursuit of its first semi-final win at a global men’s limited-overs tournament, with Reeza Hendricks hitting a six and a four on consecutive
Taiwan is to have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching and her older sister Latisha Chan officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the national tennis association said on Thursday. The International Tennis Federation on Wednesday evening confirmed the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they would join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-yi to compete in the Olympics. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association doubles rankings as of Monday, secured her slot earlier,