Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Asian Games - Taiwan lost key battle to Kazakhstan

Taiwan trailed from start to finish as they lost a key battle to Kazakhstan, 75-86, in the second preliminary game in Busan. With the 11-point loss, Taiwan also failed to grab the top seed in the Group D.

If Taiwan lost to Kazakhstan by no more than five points, they can win the Group D and have an easier second round schedule(with DPR Korea, S. Korea and hong Kong). Instead, Taiwan is the second seed and bracketed with China, Japan and Philippines in the second round.

Once again, Taiwan have problems dealing with taller and stronger opponents. With 206cm C Tikhonenko and 204cm F Issakov dominating the paint, Kazakhstan jumped to a double-digit lead in the first period. The bully bigmen scored off back-door plays, offensive rebounds and putbacks, while Taiwan interior defense could do nothing to stop them from scoring and attacking.

In other games, South Korea's Moon Kyung-eun is the hottest shooter in the first three days of the tournament, shooting 12-17 from three-point range and had 52 points in two preliminaries. South Korea got past Japan with no problem. China also blasted Hong Kong, 112-38. Zhu Fang-yu, who showed flash of brilliance in the WC, led with 24 points, while Yao Ming and Menk Bateer saw limited action. 11 of Philippines 12 players scored as the Filipinos knocked out DPR Korea 89-63 to win the Group C.

Game Summary
#Kazakhstan 86-75 Taiwan (Half 50-43)
KAZ - Y. Issakov 26p+8rb, B. Tikhonenko 16p+17rb, V. Strebkov 18p, Yemelyanov 16p ; TAI - Tien Lei 18p+8rb, Yang Yu-min 15p, Chou Hong-yu 13p+7rb, Tsun Wen-din 9p+5rb, Chiu Chi-yi 8p

#South Korea 79-62 Japan (Half 35-37)
KOR - Moon Kyung-eun 26p(6-9 3PT), Chun Hee-chul 15p+6rb, Seo Jang-hoon 13p, Bang Sung-yoon 11p, Lee Sang-min 4p+9a ; JAP - T. Kita 19p, T. Watanabe 13p, S. Furuta 10p+8rb, M. Takahashi 10p+8rb

#Philippines 89-63 DPR Korea (Half 49-31)
PHI - Duremdes 21p, Taulava 13p+15rb ; PRK - Pak Chon-jong 20p, Ri Myung-hun 13p+9rb

#China 112-38 Hong Kong (Half 47-18)
CHN - Zhu Fang-yu 24p, Chen Ke 16p, Liu Wei 12p, Hu Wei-dong 11p, Yao Ming 6p+8rb, Menk Bateer 6p+5rb