High hopes for Taiwan in inaugural Asia U-16 Championship

A pair of Taiwan's U-16 NTs will participate in the inaugural Asia U-16 Championships in the next two months looking for a seat in FIBA U-17 Championships next year.

A quick look at the inaugural tournament:

Taiwan men's U-16 NT is among 17 teams in the championship which will be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from November 11-29. Placing in the same group with Iran, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, Taiwan will have to finish in the top two to advance to the quarterfinal round.

Taiwan women's U-16 NT is heading for Pune, India for the competition to be held from November 20 to December 6. Twelve participating teams will be divided into two preliminary groups. Taiwan is bracketed in the same group with China, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong and India.

FIBA.com report on Asia U-16 Championship

Iran drawn in Group D; China in Group A: FIBA Asia U16 Championship

JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship): Seventeen teams drawn will battle it out in the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship to be played in this Malaysian city from Nov 19-27, 2009.

The draw for the preliminary round of Championship was concluded on Monday.

The top two teams from the Championship will qualify for the inaugural 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship to be played in Hamburg, Germany from July 2-11, 2010.

Iran, who are the current champions of the FIBA Asia Championship (for Senior men) as also the FIBA Asia U18 Championship, have been drawn along side Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia and Thailand in Group C.

Iran also recently bagged the gold medal at the WABA U16 Championship played in Lebanon, while qualifying for this Championship.

Traditional powerhouses China are drawn in Group A with challenge coming from Myanmar, India and Jordan.

Jordan recently finished second behind Iran in the WABA U16 Championship.

Myanmar make their debut in FIBA Asia competitions.

Group B brings in an interesting round of competition among East Asia’s Japan, SEABA’s Philippines and Middle Asia’s Kazakhstan along with Gulf sub-zone U16 champions Bahrain.

Group C has five teams, one additional team more than the other three groups.

Hosts Malaysia join fellow SEABA nation Singapore, East Asian giants Korea, WABA bronze medalists Syria and Gulf zone’s Kuwait in Group C.

The top two teams from the four groups will advance into the top half of the Quarterfinal round with the eight teams being drawn into two groups of four teams each in the following manner:
Group I: A1, B2, C1, D2
Group II: B1, A2, C2, D1.

The other teams in the four preliminary round groups will head off into the Quarterfinal round in a similar fashion, but playing for the 9-17 positions.

The top two teams from Groups I and II will qualify for the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will play for the gold medal and the losers for the bronze.

The teams playing the gold medal game will represent FIBA Asia in the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship.

Groupings for Preliminary round:

Group A: China, India, Jordan, Myanmar.
Group B: Bahrain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Philippines.
Group C: Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, Syria.
Group D: Chinese Taipei, Iran, Thailand, Saudi Arabia.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

Twelve in fray for inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women

PUNE (FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women): Twelve teams drawn into two groups of six teams each will match wits in the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women to be played in this historic city near India’s financial capital Mumbai from Nov 30-Dec 6, 2009.

The draw for the Championship was conducted on Monday, along side the draw for the FIBA Asia U16 Championship (for Men) at Malaysian city Johor Bahru, which will host the men’s event.

“Since this was the inaugural Championship, we decided to conduct a draw for the preliminary round,” explained FIBA Asia Secretary General Dato’ Yeoh Choo Hock.

“From the next Championship, we will consider dividing the teams will be divided into Level I and II like how we do for the other women’s events,” he added.

The top two teams from the Championship will represent FIBA Asia in the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship for Women to be played in France from July 16-25, 2010.

Ten of the teams figuring in the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women played in the recently concluded 23rd FIBA Asia Women Championship.

Singapore and Hong Kong replace Lebanon and Uzbekistan from the fray that played at Chennai, but neither of them are new comers to FIBA Asia competitions especially among women.

Hosts India have been drawn in Group A, which also features China and Chinese Taipei. Both Singapore and Hong Kong have been drawn in Group A with Philippines completing the challenge.

Korea and Japan head the competition in Group B with challenge coming from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Kazakhstan.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will play for the gold medal and the losers for the bronze.

The teams playing the gold medal game would have already qualified for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women.

Groupings for Preliminary Round:

Group A: China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Philippines, Singapore
Group B: Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

Taiwan men's NT to defend EAG title

Taiwan men's NT will try to defend its East Asian Games title when the quadrennial competition takes place in Hong Kong in December while Taiwan women's NT looks to revenge its loss to China in the title game four years ago in Macau.

2009 EAG Primer

Taiwan Men's NT
-- 8 teams
-- Preliminary: Two groups of four
Group A: Macau, Taiwan, Mongolia, China
Group B: Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Guam
-- Top two in each group advance to the semifinal round
-- Schedule:
Dec. 3 15:30 vs. Macau
Dec. 5 13:15 vs. Mongolia
Dec. 7 20:00 vs. China

Taiwan Women's NT
-- 6 teams
-- Preliminary: Single round robin. Top four advance to the semifinal round
-- Schedule:
Dec. 2 11:00 vs. China
Dec. 3 17:45 vs. Hong Kong
Dec. 4 13:15 vs. Japan
Dec. 6 11:00 vs. Guam
Dec. 7 11:00 vs. Korea

Shanxi wins 2009 Guanhu Cup Invitational Tournament

Lee Benson and Donta Smith dominated the tournament throughout as China's Shanxi won the 2009 Guanhu Cup Invitational Tournament in the eastern Taiwan resort city of Hualien Sunday after routing Taiwan Beer 102-69 in the title game.

However, the annual tournament which was also known as Hualien Probation Basketball (HPB) tournament has been marred by none other than South Korea's Kyunghee University. The KU team, one of South Korean college basketball powerhouses, boycotted the game on opening day before going for a bench-clearing brawl on the final day.

The most intriguing team is the US team, which consists of mostly Afghan players coming from the U.S. I haven't had the chance to see them play since no TV station broadcast the tournament this year.

A good news for Yulon was the return of Chen Hsin-an, who had both of his knees operated in the U.S. this summer. Sitting out for almost the enitre year, Chen Hsin-an was still rusty in his first game back, scoring 6 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in 26 minutes.

Taiwan Beer signed a pair of veterans in Shan Wei-fan and Shin Jin-jan to fill the void of Lin Chih-chieh, who left taiwan to play for China's Zhejiang this year.

Oct. 14
Shanxi 91-76 Yulon
US 99-45 Malaysia
KKL 84-76 Dacin
TB 62-60 Kyunghee Univ.

Oct .15
Kyunghee Univ. 84-81 KKL
Shanxi 91-52 Malaysia
Yulon 82-65 US
TB 78-75 Dacin

Oct. 16
US 75-71 Shanxi
TB 94-85 KKL
Yulon 94-64 Malaysia
Kyunghee 73-58 Dacin

Oct. 17
Shanxi 94-76 Kyunghee Univ.
TB 90-82 Yulon
US 79-66 Dacin

Oct. 18
3rd-place game: Yulon 83-73 Kyunghee Univ.
Title game: Shanxi 102-69 TB
Final Placing:
1. Shanxi
2. Taiwan Beer
3. Yulon
4. Kyunghee University

(Photos: Liberty Times, Apple Daily, UDN.com)

NBA Taipei Game message

Pacers beat Nuggets 126-104 in 1st game in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan(AP) In the first NBA preseason game played in Taiwan, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Denver Nuggets 126-104 on Thursday.

Troy Murphy, Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert each scored 20 points for the Pacers, who led throughout the game in front of a sellout crowd of 13,599 at the Taipei Arena.

"We're probably about 35 percent ready for the season,'' Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "We executed tonight what we practiced.''

Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets with 17 points. J.R. Smith added 16 points and Chauncey Billips and Joey Graham each had 14.

"Right now, we're not playing with a good rhythm,'' Nuggets coach George Carl said. "We have to find answers by (the season opener on) Oct. 28.''

Indiana made 14 of 25 3-pointers, led by Rush, who was 6 for 12. Murphy was 4 for 4 from outside the arc, and A.J. Price was 4 for 6.

The Pacers led by eight points at the end of the first quarter and expanded it to 14 at the half. They led 98-74 heading into the fourth quarter.

(Photos: NBA.com)

NBA Taipei Game photos

Courtside

They changed the banner from "Taiwan welcomes the NBA" to "Taipei welcomes the NBA". What the ***…for political reasons?

Taipei Arena.

Larry Bird.

(Source: China Times)

Pacers embark on historic "trip of a lifetime"

Taipei Arena (top), Wukesong arena in Beijing.

By Conrad Brunner | Oct. 4, 2009

Only two members of the team, T.J. Ford and Brandon Rush, have been to China, none to Taiwan, so the trip the Pacers will embark upon Monday morning offers quite a bit of mystery.

Luther Head, however, found the essence of the journey.

"There's going to be a gym," he said. "Wherever we go, there's going to be a gym."

And that, really, is the point of the thing.

The Pacers will travel more than 16,000 miles to two Asian destinations, a seven-day journey sandwiched by 17-hour flights going and coming, to play the first NBA game ever in Taiwan and the fourth in China, both against the Denver Nuggets.

"Personally, I'm very excited for a number of reasons," said Coach Jim O'Brien. "It's a great chance for these guys to spend a lot of time together in a very unique environment.

"It's a trip of a lifetime. These guys will remember this trip for the rest of their lives. Now, my old life, I'm closer to the other end, but this is going to be a lot of fun. I'm very, very excited about the opportunity."

Two games, two practices, two loooooonnnnng flights

The Pacers face the Nuggets Thursday (at 7:30 a.m. Indianapolis time) in Taipei, then re-board their jet and head for Beijing, where they'll play the Nuggets on Sunday (in Indianapolis, that'll be Saturday at midnight). Both games will be broadcast live by Fox Sports Indiana and re-broadcast at 7 p.m. Thursday and Sunday respectively.

"I've come to the realization that basketball over there is going to be limited with the amount of practice we have," said O'Brien. "The chance to play games will be very, very important. But I'm more focused on the event of traveling over to these two countries. I think that's the key thing.

"At some point in time, you have to just go with the flow and this trip, I asked for like four hours of practice one day and they said, 'You can have two hours and then you have to do a media thing.' So it is what it is."

For O'Brien, going with the flow meant cancelling the 6 a.m. practice he had scheduled for Monday morning. Hey, it was his only open time slot for a couple of days. Because the Pacers cross the international date line on their way to Taiwan, they won't arrive until roughly 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

"I'm looking forward to this trip," said Troy Murphy. "It's going to be really cool. I've never been anywhere near there. I never thought in my life I'd be able to go over there and play in an NBA game. It's really an honor and I'm excited to be a part of it."

Murphy, however, has this issue with bumpy flights.

"I'm not a great turbulence person," he said. "I'm an OK flier. I'll sit on a plane all day if it's smooth. But if it's a 10-minute flight and it's bouncing around, I'm ready to strangle somebody."

Seatmates, be advised.

Little free time in well-planned schedule

The Pacers have practices on Wednesday and Saturday and morning shootarounds on game days. Other than that, their schedule will be packed with a variety of events including:

# Tours of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, National Palace Museum & Chin-Shan Garden, Swallow Lake, Wulai Waterfall and, of course, Richshaw Rides in Taipei;

# A trip to the Great Wall and tours of the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Pearl and Silk Markets in Beijing;

# They'll also participate in NBA Cares event in Taipei benefiting typhoon relief.

"We've got pretty much a packed schedule," said Ford, who accompanied Dwight Howard to Beijing to attend the adidas Superstar Camp in 2006 . "I've been to the Great Wall so I'll be able to give some of those guys the experience. If we have time, I'll show the guys as much as I possibly can.

"I have a big following over there. Their culture is great, I love their culture, they love basketball and they're definitely going to make everyone feel like a superstar."

Dahntay Jones has traveled extensively but this will mark his first trips to Taiwan and China. It's a circuitous route for something of a reunion with friends from his Denver days.

"I definitely can't wait to see some of my old teammates. Those guys are great," he said. "We get a chance to compete and enjoy Taiwan and China, so you can't lose on this trip."

(Source: NBA.com)

CTBA names 14-man preliminary roster for 2009 East Asian Games

CTBA named 14-man preliminary Taiwan men's NT roster for the 2009 East Asian Games, keeping the entire coaching staff and most of the players in the 2009 Asian Championship with the goal of defending the title it won four years ago in Macao.

CTBA's NT committee announced that all 12 players who played in Tianjin except Jet Chang have been invited back to the squad. Three players who performed well in the Jones Cup last July -- Chen Shun-hsiang (BOT), Chen Shih-nian (TB) and Tsai Wen-cheng (PY) -- were also included in the roster.

Lin Chih-chieh, who left for China Monday to play for CBA's Zhejiang Lions, will be back to Taiwan 10 days before the East Asian Games for Taiwan NT training camp, which opens on November 2.

The roster will be down to 12 players before the East Asian Games, which will be held in Hong Kong from December 5-13.

Korean coach Chung Kwang-suk, who led Taiwan to the 5th place finish in Tianjin, will lead the team once again with the help from assistants Chou Jun-san and Hsu Chin-tse.

While Taiwan NT failed to finish in the top four in the Asian Championship since 1999, it did well in the East Asian Games, winning two gold medals in 1997 and 2005 and one silver in 2001.

Taiwan defeated Japan 60-55 four years ago for the second East Asian Games title.

14-man preliminary roster

Po., Name, Ht., Age
G Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon, 175cm, 25
G Chen Shih-nian, TB, 180cm, 25
G Su Yi-chieh, Dacin, 181cm, 22
G Yang Ching-min, TB, 188cm, 25
G Chang Chih-feng, Dacin, 183cm, 28
F Chen Shun-hsiang, BOT, 188cm
F Tsai Wen-cheng, PY, 188cm, 24
F Lin Chih-chieh, TB, 192cm, 27
F Chen Tse-wei, Dacin, 200cm, 24
F Tien Lei, Dacin, 202cm, 26
F Yang Che-yi, Yulon, 193cm, 31
F Wu Chien-lung, Pure Youth, 193cm, 20
C Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon, 202cm, 25
C Wu Tai-hao, TB, 202cm, 24

Head coach: Chung Kwang-suk
Assistants: Chou Jun-san, Hsu Ching-tse

Links:
http://www.2009eastasiangames.hk/en/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_East_Asian_Games