Taiwan NT ran out of gas and dropped another game Thursday to Qatar 87-74, its third straight loss in the quarterfinal round. Taiwan finished 0-3 in Group E, losing all three games to its West Asia opponents Lebanon, Iran and Qatar, and will meet Japan in the next game.
If Taiwan beat Japan in the next game, it will earn an opportunity to play for the 5th place. If it loses, it will have to play for the seventh. Either way, it's going to be Taiwan's best finish in the Asian Championship since 2001.
Qatar is a familiar foe for Taiwan, which has met the Qatari in the Jones Cup during the last two years and in last year's Asian Games. Taiwan even routed Qatar a couple of times at home. Word was that Taiwan has found the winning formula against Qatar.
Which was not the case at all Thursday. Qatar led from start to finish and outscored the Taiwanese in every period en route to a convincing victory. Yasseen Ismail Musa led Qatar with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Ali Saad Abdulrahman had 20 points and Salem Oman added 15.
Taiwan was led by Chen Hsin-an's 18 points and 7 boards. Tsun Wen-din had his best game in the tournament with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Lee Chi-yi had 13 while Chen Shih-nian had 10. Wu Dai-hao, one of Taiwan's best performers in the tournament, went scoreless and fouled out in 14 minutes.
Lebanon, Iran, Kazakhstan and Korea became Asia's latest top four as Lebanon will meet Korea and Kazakhstan takes on Iran in the crossover semifinals.
Jordan, Japan, Taiwan and Qatar will play in the 5-8 classification games.
Quarterfinal round results:
Qatar 87-74 Taiwan
Kazakhstan 75-73 Korea
Lebanon 82-60 Iran
Japan 71-68 Jordan
Consolation round results:
Philippines 89-58 Kuwait
China 100-55 UAE
Syria 105-54 India
Indonesia 81-78 Hong Kong
Group Standings:
Group E
Lebanon 3-0
Iran 2-1
Qatar 1-2
Taiwan 0-3
Group F
Kazakhstan 2-1
Korea 2-1
Japan 1-2
Jordan 1-2
Group G
Philippines 3-0
Syria 2-1
Kuwait 1-2
India 0-3
Group H
China 3-0
Indonesia 2-1
Hong Kong 1-2
UAE 0-3