Asian U-20: Taiwan finished for 5th-place

Taiwan U-20 beat Jordan 67-55 and finished for 5th-place in the Asian U-20 Men’s Championship. Taiwanese U-18 and U-20 NT both ranked fifth in the Asian Championship this year. Not a result that pleases local fans. Lastly, I have to say sorry for not updating the game results because of lack of information.

Asian U-20: Taiwan's semi dream dim after 2OT loss to Qatar

Taiwan U-20 NT lost to Qatar, 92-103, in double overtime and maybe saw their chance of making the semifinal passing by. The heartbreaking loss makes Taiwan NT will have to beat Korea and Jordan, which is a tough task, to make it to the final four. Taiwan NT led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but center Tsun Wen-din, the only force in the middle, fouled out before halftime.

Asian U-20: Taiwan tops Group D after 75-67 win over Iraq

Taiwan U-20 NT used 2-3 zone defense to frustrate Iraq from outside shooting and emerged with a 75-67 victory in the final prelim. Taiwan finished as Group D leader with three wins and advanced to the second round.

Quarter score:
Taiwan-Iraq: 24-14/17-21/19-16/15-16

Second round bracket:
Group I – Iran, Lebanon, China, Iraq
Group II – Qatar, Korea, Jordan, Taiwan

Asian U-20: Taiwan 86, Japan 79

Yang Chin-min again led Taiwan U-20 NT on the scoring chart with 21 points in the 86-79 victory over Japan to go 2-0 in Group D in Asian U-20 Championship. Taiwan will meet Iraq in the last prelim.

Taiwan led by 12 and as many as 20 in the fourth quarter. Japan cut the deficit down to less than ten points as Taiwan subbed a couple high schoolers to finish the game. Big men Tsun Wen-din and Wu Jun-hsiung had 16 and 13 points respectively.

Asian U-20: Taiwan beat India 92-71

Yang Chin-min scored 20 points as Taiwan U-20 NT beat India 92-71 in the opening game of Asian U-20 Championship in Tehran, Iran. But head coach Liu Jia-fa was surprised at India’s intensity. Taiwan NT led by only five at halftime(40-35) but used a 30-13 run in the third quarter to open up the game. Tsun Wen-din and Chen Shih-nian had 13 points each. Lee Hseah-lin had 11 while Deng An-chen had 10.

Asian U-20: Preliminary round schedules

(Tehran Local Time)

9/29
09:00 Jordan vs. Malaysia
11:00 Saudi Arabia vs. Kazakhstan
14:00 Korea vs. Lebanon
17:00 Qatar vs. Iran
19:00 China vs. Philippines

9/30
09:00 Kazakhstan vs. Korea
11:00 Japan vs. Iraq
15:00 Kuwait vs. Qatar
17:00 Lebanon vs. Saudi Arabia
19:00 India vs. Taiwan(Chinese Taipei)

10/1
09:00 Malaysia vs. China
11:00 Philippines vs. Jordan
15:00 Iraq vs. India
17:00 Kuwait vs. Iran
19:00 Taiwan(Chinese Taipei) vs. Japan

10/2
09:00 Japan vs. India
11:00 Malaysia vs. Philippines
13:00 Korea vs. Saudi Arabia
15:00 China vs. Jordan
17:00 Kazakstan vs. Lebanon
19:00 Taiwan(Chinese Taipei) vs. Iraq

Asian U-20: Taiwan meets India in opening prelim

Taiwan U-20 NT will meet India in the opening preliminary game in Asian U-20 Men's Championship, which will be held in Tehran, Iran.

Preliminary Brackets
Group A: Qatar, Hong Kong, Kuwait
Gorup B: Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon
Gorup C: China, Jordan, Malaysia, Philippines
Group D: Taiwan, Japan, India, Iraq

Taiwan NT prelim schedule(Taiwan Time)
9/30 2330 vs. India
10/1 2330 vs. Japan
10/2 2330 vs. Iraq

Preliminary games will use the single round robin format, as the top two teams in each group advance to the second round.

Second round Brackets
Group I: A2, B1, C2, D1
Gorup II: A1, B2, C1, D2

Cross-over semifinals will be held on October 7th and 8th.

Taiwan Basketball Notes

Yulon to play in Brunei tournament
Yulon recruits Dacin forward Tien Lei and 6-9 import Alvin Jackson before departing for an international tournament to be held in Brunei from September 20th -October 1st.

A total of six teams from Asian countries will enter the fourth edition of the tourney. They are Yulon from Taiwan, China’s Shanghai, Philippines’ Red Bull and Purefoods, and Laguna from Indonesia.

Yulon starting center Tsun Wen-din and PG Lee Hsueh-lin will not join the team because they are currently in the U-20 NT training camp.

The six participating teams will play in the single round robin preliminary round. Top four teams advance to another single round robin second round.

SINA veterans signed by different teams
Huang Chun-hsiung and Hsiung Jen-jen, who didn’t re-signed by SINA Lions, have been signed by Videoland Hunters, formerly in the name of BCC Mars. Meanwhile, after a long talk with team management, PG Chou Jun-san re-signed with SINA for one year and will probably work in the capacity as a coaching staff member after retirement.

Taiwan Junior Women’s NT head for China
Taiwan Junior Women’s NT will go to China today for a 7-game tour in preparation of the upcoming Asian Junior Women’s Championship, which will be held in Shenzen, China from October 15-21.

Wu Dai-hao withdraws from U-20 NT
Citing recurring injury concern, 202cm center/forward Wu Dai-hao withdrew from U-20 Men’s NT training camp.

Taiwan U-20 NT Preliminary Roster

U-20 coaching staff named a 16-man preliminary roster for 2004 Asian U-20 Men’s Basketball Championship, which will be held in Iran from September 29th to October 9th. The training camp will start on August 27th.

Head coach: Liu Jia-fa(Dacin Constructions Head coach)
Assistant: Wei Chen-ming(Bank of Taiwan Head coach)
Roster:
Name, Position, Height, DOB, Team
Tsun Wen-din C 204 1984/7/6 Yulon Dinos
Wu Dai-hao C/F 202 1985/2/7 EHSN Antelope
Wu Jun-hsiung C/F 198 1984/8/26 Taiwan Beer
Lin Hwan-chao C 202 1985/4/18 Dacin Constructions
Yang Chin-min SF 187 1983/1/22 Bank of Taiwan
Chen Tse-wei SF 198 1985/1/30 Dacin Constructions
Hsu Shi-chin PF 194 1984/11/1 Dacin Constructions
Wang Chuan-jian PF 195 1985/12/30 SINA Lions
Deng An-cheng SG 185 1985/11/6 Dacin Constructions
Hsu Wei-sheng PF 198 1985/3/23 Yulon Dinos
Lee Chih-ming PG 176 1984/1/31 Yulon Dinos
Chen Shih-nian PG 180 1984/4/8 Taiwan Beer
Chen Shi-jay SG 173 1984/9/24 SINA Lions
Sun Hwan-bo PG 180 1985/9/11 Tsai-shin HS
Lin Kwan-lun SG 186 1984/1/23 Taiwan Beer
Chen Li-wei SG 179 1986/12/16 Nan-shan HS

CTBA ready to assemble national teams

2004 Taiwanese Men’s NT is expected to be selected by CTBA and starts training in late-May. Taiwanese Men’s NT will participate in two competitions, both held in Taiwan, this year – the William Jones Cup and the inaugural Stankovic Cup (aka Asian Cup).

Jones Cup, which was cancelled last year because of SARS outbreak, will be held this year from July 17th to 31st (subject to change). Stankovic Cup, which is sanctioned by FIBA Asia, is scheduled from November 19th to 25th. Both events will be held in Taipei.

U-18 and U-20 Men’s teams will also be selected shortly. U-18 team will start training on June 28th and go to India in August for Asian U-18 Men’s Championship. U-20 team will start training in mid-August and head for Tehran, Iran for Asian U-20 Men’s Championship in September.

On women’s side, A-League Champ Kuo-tai Life will represent Taiwan to play in the Women’s World Cup Preliminary Games, which will be held Taipei also.

Asian U-18 Women’s Championship, originally to be held in Malaysia, will be postponed to the end of the year. The hosting country will be decided later. CTBA will also pull back the starting time of the training camp.

In total, CTBA will send out seven national teams to the international tournaments this year.

New Zealand Wins Jones Cup ; Rampton MVP

Powered by towering frontline, New Zealand defeated South Korea 78-67 in the championship game of the 23rd William Jones Cup on July 29. New Zealand's 7-foot center Tony Rampton(Iowa State '00) was voted tournament MVP.

Taiwan NT beat Philippines 83-73 in the bronze medal game. Japan knocked down South Africa 75-58 and finished fifth. South Africa's sixth place finish marked the best performance in their Jones Cup history.

New Zealand finally took home the title in their sixth Jones Cup appearance. "Tall Black" lost to Taiwan NT in last year's semifinal. New Zealand finished 5th, 8th, 7th and 4th during 1980-83 in the Jones Cup, they did not return to the tournament again until last year.

Head Coach Keith Mair was pleased with his team's performance. He said, however, New Zealand still has a long way to go since they are in the same group woth USA, Lithuania, Italy, France and China in the upcoming Sydney Olympics.

With veteran Cheng Chih-Lung's 21 point, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals all-around performance, coupled with Lo Shin-Liang's 14 points, Taiwan NT edged Philippines to finish third, one spot below last year. Philippines was led by Christopher Clay's 23 points and Jeffrey Flowers' 18. They grabbed 20 more rebounds than the home team but 19 turnovers hurt them down the stretch.

Former University of Texas Longhorn Christopher Clay, who scored 109 points in six games, is the leading scorer in the tournament with a 18.2 average.

FINAL STANDINGS
1- New Zealand; 2- South Korea; 3- Taiwan; 4- Philippines; 5- Japan; 6- South Africa; 7- Costa Rica; 8- Malaysia; 9- Taiwan 2nd; 10- Hong Kong

Taiwan Basketball Notes

NT COACH CHIEN YI-FEI RESIGNS
Citing health problems, NT head coach Chien Yi-Fei resigned after leading Taiwan NT to third-place in the 23rd William Jones Cup. Chien said he was pleased to see the younger players' development over the period and hope the new coaching staff will lead the national team to a new generation.

CTBA(Chinese Taipei Basketball Association) was surprised at Chien's announcement and will try to talk Chien out of the decision. CTBA hope Chien make his final decision after next year's ABC Championship and EastAsia Games.

TAIWAN PULLS OUT OF ABC U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP
Not happy with Taiwan NT 2nd's performance in the Jones Cup, CTBA announced on July 29 that Taiwan will pull out of the ABC U-20 Championship, which will take place in Doha, Katar next month. The announcement marks the first time a Taiwanese basketball team withdraw from an official FIBA-sanctioned tournament not by political reasons(with China).

Taiwan NT 2nd's poor play in the Jones Cup, where they lost to New Zealand by 56 points while scoring only 12 points in the first half, drew numerous criticism from the local media and fans. They finished only 9th in the tournament, compared to a surprising third-place finish in 1999. Observers think the coaching staff failed to prepare the team and carry out the discipline, and the players plainly don't know how to play team basketball.

Day 6 Report : South Korea, New Zealand to Meet in Final

South Korea upset home team Taiwan NT 87-78 in the July 28 semifinal of the 23rd William Jones Cup and advance to the championship game, where they will face New Zealand NT, which trounced Philippines 67-37 in the other semifinal action.

205cm center Kim Joo Sung and 185cm shooting guard Kim Byong Chul combined for 58 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals to lead the Koreans' attack. Kim Joo Sung single-handedly ripped Taiwanese interior defense with 36 points and 11 rebounds, while Kim Byong Chul, one of the two professional players on Korean side, connected 5 of 7 three-pointers and scored 22.

South Korea, which sent its collegiate all-star team to Taiwan instead of national team, jumped to a 10-4 lead in the opening minutes on consecutive three-pointers and led most of the game on small margin. Taiwan managed to even the score at 52 all early in the second half, but South Korean again pulled away on a 7-0 spurt.

With 6 minutes remaining, home crowd favorite Chen Hsin-An returned to the court after suffering a minor cut above his right eyebrow before halftime. Chen tried to bring the Taiwanese into the game with a high-power baseline driving dunk, but Kim Joo Sung again silenced the crowd with three consecutive baskets to boost the lead to 11 points.

Taiwan failed to scored on 4 consecutive possesions afterwards and again was stopped by their long-time rival South Korea. Taiwan also lost to South Korea NT in the Jones Cup final last year.

In the other action, Andres Barrantes and 34 year-old veteran Hernan Robertson scored 18 each to lead Costa Rica to a 87-59 victory over Malaysia and took home the seventh place. Malaysia finished eighth.

Taiwan NT 2nd, whose poor play being harshly criticized by local media and fans, finally defeated Hong Kong 77-46 and finished 9th in the tournament, thanks to SG Chang Chi-Fung's all-around performance of 22 points(5-7 3PTs), 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Yung Kam Wah scored 20 to lead last-place Hong Kong.

Taiwan NT 2nd will head for Dohar, Katar next month for the Asian U-20 Basketball Championship. NT player Chen Hsin-An will join the U-20 team after the Jones Cup.