Taiwan’s dream of making to the final eight in the Asian Championship takes a big blow in the first day, when they lost to Iran 74-83. With China and Syria the remaining opponents in the preliminaries, Taiwan’s chance of making the quarterfinal is approximately to zero.
Taiwan NT again and again failed to keep Iran off the backboard, trailing by a humiliating 20-44 on the boards. Iran used its ferocious inside attack and led almost the entire game. The halftime score was 38-34, Iran.
Tien Lei led Taiwan with 20 points (5-12 3PT). Yang Che-yi had 13 on 5-for-7 shooting. Chiu Chi-yi and Lin Chi-jay had 7 points each. Ironically, Yang, Chiu and Lin all didn’t start. That tells you how the starters did in the game. Yen Shin-shu dished for 6 assists though.
Karam Ahmadian and Iman Zandi had 17 each for the Iranians. Mohammad Samad Nikkh had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Taiwan will face China, which routed Syria 103-51 today, in the second game tomorrow.
Other results:
Uzbekistan 68-64 Hong Kong (M. Shaffnkov 19, V. Beloklirov 19 ; Poon Chi Ho 11, Li Wai Lun 11)
Lebanon 79-70 Kazakhstan (Joe Vogel 30+12, G. Rida 18 ; Y. Issakov 16, S. Vdovin 13+10, A. Yemelyanov 9+15)
India 94-74 Kuwait (S. Robinson 21+18, Desraj 26 ; O. Moubarak 17, H. Babroun 18)
China 103-51 Syria (Zhu Fangyu 19, Yao Ming 18+12 ; Michel Madanli 17)
Qatar 66-53 Jordan (Daoud Mousa 17, Yasseen Ismail 16 ; Zaid Al Kahs 12+12)
Japan 66-64 Philippines (M. Takahashi 24)