Taiwan's hope of a second consecutive semifinal appearance crushed on July 24, after losing their second straight quarterfinal game to Lebanon 72-87. Looks like they can only finish seventh at best, if they beat India in the classification game.
Taiwan NT will meet powerful China in their final quarterfinal game today, which no one thinks they have a chance to win. With a potential 0-3 record in the quarterfinals, Taiwan will have to fight with India for the seventh place. The previous worst finish for Taiwan NT is 6th place in 1985 (Malaysia) and 1997 (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).
Taiwan trailed only by six, 30-36, early in the second quarter before Lebanon scored 12 unanswered points to pull away. Taiwan did not match up well inside and outside and trailed by as many as 21 in the second half.
Tien Lei led Taiwan with 18 points (4-7 3-PT) and 5 rebounds. Chou Hong-yu had 15 points and 9 rebounds. Wu Chih-wei had 12 and 8, while Yen Shin-shu had 11 and Yang Yu-min had 10.
South Korea 85-71 Syria
Syria's 11-0 opening run is nothing for the Koreans, because South Korea came back to make 10 of 20 three-point attempts and pounded Syria 85-71. South Korea clinched the first place in Group II and secured their seed in the semifinals. Kim Byong-chul had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Centers Seo Jang-hoon and Kim Joo-sung each had 17 points and pulled down 9 and 8 rebounds respectively.
China 126-67 Japan
Dalls Maverick Wang Zhi-zhi had 22 points and 8 rebounds to lead China breeze by Japan, 126-67, with an astonishing 77 % from the field. Wang made all of his four three-point attempts. Yao Ming had 13 points and 8 reobunds for the Chinese. Veteran Gong Xiao-bin and Hu Wei-dong had 17 and 16 points respectively. Menk Bateer scored 12.
▓Quarterfinals Score
South Korea 85-71 Syria
Qatar 85-60 India
Lebanon 87-72 Taiwan
China 126-67 Japan
▓Quarterfinals Standings
Group I - China 2-0, Lebanon 1-1, Japan 1-1, Taiwan 0-2
Group II - South Korea 2-0, Qatar 1-1, Syria 1-1, India 0-2
▓Classification Score
Uzbekistan 85-65 Singapore
UAE 80-77 Kuwait