Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Roundup: Junior NT and TB's HK visit

-- Taiwan U-18 NT, which will compete in the Asian Men's U-18 Championship in Iran from August 28 - September 5, started its training under Korean head coach Chung Kwang-suk this past week in Beitou, Taipei.

The team started its training camp earlier this month under assistants Hsieh Yu-chuan and Yang Yi-feng when Chung was coaching Taiwan NT in the Jones Cup.

Taiwan is slated in Group C with the Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Syria. The roster is down to 13 after losing two players to injury. With a height average of 188.5cm, this team has a long way to go in the tournament.

-- This is an old news but I haven't written about it. Yulon head coach Lee Yung-kwang resigned after the team failed to win the SBL champion in consecutive years. The Dinos won the first three SBL titles from 2004-2006.

Lee officially ended his 14-year career with Yulon as a player and a coach when he submitted his resignation in early June.

Zhang Xuelei, a former China NT member who came to Taiwan and played in the pro league CBA, will take over. Actually Zhang has been listed as the Head Coach since last season while Lee was listed as a "coach" but functioned as the real head coach.

-- Taiwan Beer finished as third place with one win and two losses in the Strait Cup tournament in Hong Kong on July 27 after an 116-69 win over Macao.

Fans in Hong Kong and Taiwan were not happy with the two-time SBL champion. TB players took this tournament lightly and did not give their full effort, which disappointed HK fans. Back home, fans wondered why Lin Chih-chieh, Wu Tai-hao, Ho Shou-cheng and Chen Shih-nian, who all sat out the Jones Cup due to INJURY, were alive and kicking in Hong Kong just days after the Jones Cup. They did not look INJURED at all.

So much for "attitude, " TB's team slogan which has become a hot marketing commodity which you can see printed on T-shirts, caps and many other TB merchandise.