Monday, August 29, 2005

Injury bug hits Taiwan NT

Taiwan NT comes back to Taiwan after a long and draining training tour that takes them to three countries -- U.S., Korea, China. The trip takes its toll. Taiwan NT lost Chen Hsin-an to knee injury. Also, Chang Chi-feng and Ho Sho-jen are possible missing the Asian Championship due to same injuries. Lin Chi-jay is also out of the lineup because of knee operation and rehab.

All this means Taiwan NT has lost four wing players. Moreover, almost every player on the team has some injuries because of playing year-round without rest. Most of these players are still in college, which means they played in the SBL, the college league, the Jones Cup and all these warmup games, non-stop.

Looking back, CTBA's decision to make Taiwan NT play as many games as possible may backfire a little bit because at this moment there are only 11 players on the roster. Wu Dai-hao will join the team in Qatar after enrolling at BYU-Hawaii and complete the 12-man roster.

Taiwan NT finished 5-1 in a five-team friendly tournament in China, playing 6 games in 7 days. Before that, they played 17 games in 24 days, including nine games in nine days in the Jones Cup, where they finished runner-up with a 7-2 record, and eight games in nine days in Korea (3W-5L).

Before the Korea trip, the team spent one month in U.S., where they played with local college teams and pro teams. Also, they played two games in Southern California Pro League.