21st ABC Championship Schedule

Date	Match No.	Time	Group	Matches			Result
July 20, 2001 Friday	1	9:00	D	Japan		Kuwait
	2	11:00	A	Hong Kong-China		Qatar
	3	13:00	B	Korea		Singapore
	4	15:00	C	Chinese Taipei		India
	5	17:00	B	UAE		Lebanon
		19:45	Opening Ceremony
	6	20:30	A	China		Thailand
July 21, 2001 Saturday	7	9:00	C	India		Uzbekistan
	8	11:00	A	Thailand		Hong Kong-China
	9	13:00	B	Lebanon		Korea
	10	15:00	B	Singapore		UAE
	11	18:30	D	Kuwait		Syria
	12	20:30	A	Qatar		China
July 22, 2001 Sunday	13	9:00	C	Uzbekistan		Chinese Taipei
	14	11:00	D	Syria		Japan
	15	13:00	B	Korea		UAE
	16	15:00	A	Thailand		Qatar
	17	18:30	B	Singapore		Lebanon
	18	20:30	A	China		Hong Kong-China
July 23, 2001 Monday	19	9:00	GP III	B4		A3
	20	11:00	GP IV	B3		A4
	21	13:00	GP II	B1		A2
	22	15:00	GP II	D1		C2
	23	18:30	GP I	D2		C1
	24	20:30	GP I	B2		A1
July 24, 2001 Tuesday	25	9:00	GP III	C3		B4
	26	11:00	GP IV	D3		B3
	27	13:00	GP II	B1		D1
	28	15:00	GP II	C2		A2
	29	18:30	GP I	C1		B2
	30	20:30	GP I	A1		D2
July 25, 2001 Wednesday	31	9:00	GP IV	A4		D3
	32	11:00	GP III	A3		C3
	33	13:00	GP II	B1		C2
	34	15:00	GP I	D2		B2
	35	18:30	GP II	A2		D1
	36	20:30	GP I	C1		A1
Thursday 26th July Rest Day
July 27, 2001 Friday	37	11:00	13th/14th		GP III 3	GP IV 3
	38	13:00	11th/12th		GP III 2	GP IV 2
	39	15:00	9th/10th		GP III 1	GP IV 1
	40	18:30	Semi-Final		GP I 2	GP II 1
	41	20:30	Semi-Final		GP I 1	GP II 2
July 28, 2001 Saturday	42	12:00	7th/8th		GP I 4	GP II 4
	43	14:00	5th/6th		GP I 3	GP II 3
	44	17:00	3rd/4th		Loser #40	Loser #41
	45	19:30	Final		Winner #40	Winner #41
		20:30	Closing Ceremony

Day 3-5: SINA Rout Taiwan NT

With most games ending lopsided, Day Three staged the most surprising results in the 4-Nations Invitational Tournament. SINA routed Taiwan NT by 22 points, 86-64, with their experience and hothand from outside, while Kuwait edged Philippines 71-69 and won for the first time in the tournament.

190cm SF Hsiung Jen-jen was in the zone and basically unstoppable in the July 11 game, making 7 of 13 three-point attempts and scored a career-high 29 points. SINA hit the boards and controlled the tempo for all 40 minutes. Taiwan NT looked helpless under new head coach Lee Yun-kwang and can only go one-on-one on offense.

There would be no surprises in Day 4 and 5, home teams came up with easy wins. As predicted, SINA (5-0) and Taiwan NT (4-1) will meet on the final day for the tournament title. Philippines (0-5) also will be looking for their first win when they meet Kuwait (1-4) again in the last game.


■Game Summary
July 11
Kuwait 71-69 Philippines (35-36)
KUW - H. Al-Shamaty 19p+6rb ; A. Al-Saraf 14p+13rb ; K. Al-Hajras 13p+6rb
PHI - Y. De Ocampo 20p+6rb ; J. Punzalan 14p ; A. Vergarda 13p

SINA 86-64 Taiwan NT (44-38)
SINA - Hsiung Jen-jen 29p (7-13 3PT) ; Lo Shin-liang 17p+4rb+3a ; Huang Chun-hsiung 12p+12rb ; Chou Jun-san 6p+6rb+9a
TW - Chiu Chi-yi 17p ; Tien Lei 12p+4rb ; Lee Chi-yi 8p ; Chen Chih-chung 4p+4a

July 13
SINA 94-84(OT) Kuwait
Taiwan NT 83-78 Philippines

July 14
SINA 81-50 Philippines (33-26)
SINA - Lo Shin-liang 21p ; Lai Kuo-hong 13p+5rb ; Wu Yong-jen 9p+6a
PHI - Y. De Ocampo 11p+5rb ; R. Espino 10p

Taiwan NT 89-67 Kuwait (42-35)
TW - Tien Lei 17p+6rb ; Chen Chih-chung 16p+3a ; Yang Yu-min 13p (14min) ; Yen Shin-shu 8p+7a ; Lee Chi-yi 9p+5rb

■Standings
SINA 5-0
Taiwan NT 4-1
Kuwait 1-4
Philippines 0-5

ABC Championship Bracket Revised

Following a redraw, the Asian Basketball Confederation has confirmed the official results of the revised grouping for the 21st ABC Championship, which will be held in China from July 20-28 at the Shanghai International Gymnastics Center.

Except for Qatar, defending champ China is expected to breeze past its other two opponents in the Preliminary Round in Group A, which has Qatar, Hong Kong, China and Thailand.

Group B has 1999 runner-up Korea, UAE, West Asia 1 and Singapore. Singapore were tapped to replace Philippines after the latter were suspended by FIBA due to the messy and unsettled leadership squabble since late last year.

Group C has Taiwan, Uzbekistan and India while Group D consists of Japan, Kuwait and the second representative from West Asia.

The two West Asia representatives will be confirmed after the last game of the WABA qualifying tournament. Lebanon currently with 8 points lead the WABA participants followed closely by Iran, Iraq and Syria, all with 6 points apiece and Jordan with 4 points. Lebanon just needs to win 1 of its 3 remaining games to qualify.

Revised Groupings
Group A - China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Qatar
Group B - Korea, UAE, Singapore, West Asia I
Group C - Taiwan, Uzbekistan, India
Group D - Japan, Kuwait, West Asia II

ABC Championship Primer

■TIME - July 20 - July 28, 2001

■PLACE - International Gymnastic Center, Shanghai, China

■PARTICIPANTS AND GROUPINGS
Group A - China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Qatar
Group B - Korea, UAE, Singapore, West Asia I
Group C - Taiwan, Uzbekistan, India
Group D - Japan, Kuwait, West Asia II

■GAME FORMAT
Preliminary Round
Single round robin, teams to play against all the other teams within each group to select the top two teams that will advance to the quarterfinals.

Quarter Final Round
Eight qualified teams to be divided into two groups of four each: Group I – A1, B2, C1, D2 and Group II – A2, B1, C2, D1. Single Round with the top two teams at the end advancing to the crossover semi-finals.

Semi-final Round
A1 vs. B2; A2 vs. B1

Finals
Winner vs. Winner for Gold; and Loser vs. Loser for Bronze

Complete 4-Nations Tournament Rosters

Name, Position, Height/Weight, Age
■Taiwan NT
Tseng Wen-din C 202/85 17
Chen Chih-chun G 183/74 24
Yang Yu-min G 180/72 22
Yen Shin-shu G 183/70 25
Chou Hong-yu F 195/92 25
Tien Lei F 200/86 18
Ho Sho-jen F 195/88 18
Lee Chi-yi F 198/90 23
Chiu Chi-yi G 182/72 26
Chen Hsin-an F 196/90 22
Wu Chih-wei C 202/94 25
Wu Dai-hao C 200/98 16
Lin Jia-huang G 186/85 27
Huang Bao-tse G 180/70 26
Shan Wei-fan F 195/90 24
Head Coach: Lee Yun-kwang
Assistant: Dong-fan Che-ter, Lin Jian-ping

■SINA
Chou Jun-san G 173/73 32
Lo Shin-liang G 182/83 30
Huang Chun-hsiung F 200/98 30
Liu Yi-hsiang C 200/110 29
Shun Jen-jen F 192/90 29
Lai Kuo-hong C 196/98 27
Hsu Yong-yi F 190/79 28
Chang Ya-tang F 192/88 25
Wu Yong-jen G 176/69 19
Hu Yu-wei F 190/82 18
Ker Hong-yao F 193/88 18
Hsu Chen-wen C 195/105 18
Head Coach: Chiu Da-tsun

■Kuwait NT
Ahmad Al-Muttiry G 188/98
Hamad Al-Othman F 183/75
Humod Al-Hajras C 186/90
Eid Al-Shamary C 190/85
Haitham Batoon F 190/105
Khaled Al-Hajras C 198/135
Hesham Al-Myal G 189/89
Sager Hassan G 181/70
Abdoula Al-Saraf F 190/75
Hamad Al-Shamaty F 190/77
Abdulrahman Helal C 198/105
Osama Al-farhan G 188/87
Head Coach: Mohamed Al-Badar
Assistant: Fiasal Bu Resly

■Philippines (St.Francis of Assisi College)
John Adrimesen G 172/85
Donald Delfin F 187/90
Nizar Kiram F 195/105
Roy Billanes F 185/82
Ranidel De Ocampo F 195/95
Yancy De Ocampo C 203/105
Lyndon Abian G 180/82
Rudy Espino G 182/84
Jumar Punzalan F 190/105
Lawrence Bonus C 198/102
Ervin Sotto C/F 200/102
Al Vergarda G 170/82
Coach: Gabriel Luis Velasco
(Note - Weight for Philippines player is highly suspicious, don't count on it)

Day 1 & 2: Home Teams Dominate

Taiwan NT and SINA did not disappoint the home crowd in the first two days action of the YES 4-Nations Invitational Tournament, both sinking visitors Kuwait and Philippines and winning two straight to sit atop the standing. Both home teams are already expected to finish first and second in the tournament.

After cruising by Kuwait, Taiwan NT faced a challenging Philippines team. Led by SF Shan Wei-fan's three consecutive jumpers, Taiwan NT regained their momentum in the second half and finally pulled away for the hard-fought win.

The game brought back memories of the 1999 Jones Cup bench-clearing brawl between Taiwan NT and Philippines' Iloilo Megavoltz (MBA), when Philippines' guard Rudy Espino sacked Ho Sho-jen to the floor and was ejected in the last minute. Ervin Sotto also committed a flagrant foul earlier in the second half when he intentionally pushed Tseng Wen-din, who was finishing a fast-break dunk, from the back. Espino drew a loud boos from the crowd after the injection.

Focusing on the preparation for the upcoming ABC Championship, Taiwan NT head coach Lee Yun-kwang spread playing times among all players, with no one playing more than 20 minutes in two games, except Tseng Wen-din and Tien Lei in the first game. 17 year-old center Tseng shows great improvement since returning from East Asia Games, coming up with his best game so far in Game 1 (21p+13rb+2blk). Tseng, who will only be a high school senior next year, probabably is already the best high-post center in Taiwan. Keep your eyes on this young man. If he keeps adding bulk and developing inside moves, he will have a chance to be the starting center on the national team for the next 10 years.

SG Lo Shin-liang have been SINA's most reliable scorer, averaging 22.5 points in two wins. It will take more than Lo alone if SINA wants to beat the national team and wins the tournament.

Led by talented 203cm center Yancy De Ocampo, Philippines showed great competitiveness throughout two games, but could not make the last push in the closing minutes and ended up losing both games.

Obviously, Kuwait was the weakest among four teams, although 18 year-old Abdoula Al-Saraf, who's the leading scorer in last year's ABC Junior Championship, was sometimes brilliant. Without height advantage and consistent perimeter shooting, Kuwait's 18.5PPG losing margin in the first two games is no surprise. Kuwait, which like Taiwan is going thru a rebuilding period on NT level, is far from competitive compared with the rest of the Asian countries. A top 6 finish in the upcoming ABC Championship seems out of reach.


■Game Summary
(July 9)
SINA 70-63 Philippines (34-39)
SINA - Lo Shin-liang 18p+3a ; Huang Chun-hsiung 11p+7rb ; Hsiung Jen-jen 9p+6rb+3s ; Wu Yong-jen 7p ; Lai Kuo-hong 6p+7rb
PHI - R. De Ocampo 18p ; Y. De Ocampo 11p+10rb

Taiwan 97-69 Kuwait (49-30)
TAI - Tseng Wen-din 21p+13rb+2blk ; Yang Yu-min 12p ; Tien Lei 10p+3a+3s ; Shan Wei-fan 9p ; Lee Chi-yi 7p ; Wu Dai-hao 7p+6rb+2blk
KUW - A. Al-Saraf 15p+5rb ; O. Al-Farhan 14p+8rb ; A. Al-Muttiry 9p+5rb+6s


(July 10)
SINA 76-67 Kuwait (44-35)
SINA - Lo Shin-liang 27p (3-6 3PT)+5s ; Lai Kuo-hong 12p+7rb ; Huang Chun-hsiung 8p+11rb+2blk ; Hu Yu-wei 8p
KUW - A. Al-Saraf 19p+3s ; A. Helal 14p+8rb ; O. Al-Farhan 12p

Taiwan 84-73 Philippines (40-40)
TAI - Shan Wei-fan 11p+6rb ; Yang Yu-min 11p ; Chiu Chi-yi 10p ; Tseng Wen-din 9p+7rb+3s ; Lee Chi-yi 9p+5rb ; Chou Hong-yu 9p ; Tien Lei 6p(3-11 FG)+2s
PHI - Y. De Ocampo 23p+7rb+4s+3blk ; E. Sotto 14p ; A. Vergarda 12p ; R. De Ocampo 10p+3a

■Standings
Taiwan 2-0
SINA 2-0
Philippines 0-2
Kuwait 0-2

North Korea, Saudi Arabia Pull Out

The Asian Basketball Confederation announced on July 10 that North Korea and Saudi Arabia have formally withdrawn from the 21st ABC Championship, which will be held from July 20-28 at Shanghai, China.

North Korea was bracketed in Group B with South Korea while Saudi Arabia, which finished third in 1999, is in Group C in the Preliminary Round. With North Korea and Saudi Arabia out of the championship, the ABC Championship is left with 14 teams, thus making the four groupings highly unbalanced.

As a solution, the ABC has called for a redraw of the 14 participants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 12 at 10:30 in the morning. Except for the redraw of the participants, nothing else will be changed, including the tournament format.

Participants
1. China
2. Hong Kong
3. India
4. Japan
5. Korea
6. Kuwait
7. Lebanon
8. Philippines
9. Qatar
10. Chinese Taipei
11. Thailand
12. United Arab Emirates
13. Uzbekistan
14. West Asia II (to be confirmed later this week)

Notes: New ABC Grouping

For unidentified reason, Asian Basketball Confederations released a new grouping for the 21st ABC Championship. New grouping is as follows.

Group A - China, Philippines, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan
Group B - South Korea, North Korea, UAE, Thailand
Group C - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, West Asia Champ, West Asia Runner-up
Group D - Taiwan, Japan, Qatar, India

Kazakhstan, which was expected to enter the group D, is surprisingly absent and replaced by India. The absence of Kazakhstan will make the DEATH GROUP easier and no doubt benefit both Taiwan and Japan. Taiwan and Japan are expected to breeze by India, right now the only opponent they have to worry is Qatar.

■Japan NT Turmoil
(From Yomiuri Shinbun. With the help from Miki Yamamoto.)
It is confirmed that Isuzu have already informed Japan Basketball Association that 3 Isuzu players, Kenichi Sako, Satoshi Sakumoto, Micheal Takahashi, who are in the Japanese NT roster for the ABC Championship, which is to be held in Shanghai from July 20th, won't be participating in the Championship.

Isuzu doesn't want their players to get injured in the NT activities because the indemnity system is not enough set. Isuzu tells this is the main reason. Mr. Kohama, the head coach of Isuzu, once said; "Japan Basketball Association hasn't discussed at all with us about the NT's activity plan, and on the side of Isuzu who is sending our players, we cannot understand what JABBA thinks." Upon being discharged from the NT for criticizing JABBA, it seems Mr. Kohama still carries distrust toward JABBA.

The first 19 members for the NT roster was announced on June 13th. The final roster will be decided at the beginning of July, but from the first 19 members, the 3 Isuzu members and also Takehiko Orimo (Toyota) and Eric McArthur (Aishin) will higly be out.

In the upcoming ABC Championship, only 2 countries can get the ticket to the World Championship in 2002. But Japanese NT has to go for it without its 5 leading members.

Mr. Numata Hirofumi, the chief for NT reinforcement, says; "There is no talks going to ask those players to join the NT. We don't have time. The NT is now at the stage of completion."

4-Nations Notes: Updated Schedule

Saudi Out, SINA In
Saudi Arabia pulled out of the tournament in the last minute due to unknown reason and was replaced by local A-League team SINA.

Updated Schedule
July 9 - 1800 Philippines vs. SINA ; 2000 Kuwait vs. Taiwan
July 10 - 1800 SINA vs. Kuwait ; 2000 Taiwan vs. Philippines
July 11 - 1800 Kuwait vs. Philippines ; 2000 SINA vs. Taiwan
July 13 - 1800 SINA vs. Kuwait ; 2000 Taiwan vs. Philippines
July 14 - 1800 Philippines vs. SINA ; Kuwait vs. Taiwan
July 15 - 1800 Philippines vs. Kuwait ; 2000 Taiwan vs. SINA

Tien Lei to Play SF
New Taiwan NT head coach Lee Yun-kwang decided to move 18-year-old phenom Tien Lei from PF to SF, after Chen Hsin-an dropped out of NT because of eye injury. Lee insisted on the move, in order to make the Taiwanese NT a faster team and a taller lineup. Tien's outside shooting has improved dramatically since the move was made. He buried three three-pointers in limited minutes in a warm-up game vs. SINA last week. Tien will benefited from the move as he can utilize his quickness, long arms and height to humiliate most Asian small forwards.

4 Nations May Left with Three...Or Two

4-Nations Invitational Tournament is in danger of losing Saudi Arabia, and maybe Philippines, and becomes a two-team tournament. CTBA is working rigorously to make sure all participants arrive on time.

Saudi Arabia NT told CTBA yesterday through agency that they couldn't book the flight tickets from Taipei through Bangkok to Shanghai, where the ABC Championship is held. Not wanting to miss the ABC Championship, Saudi Arabia will fly directly to Shanghai and therefore pulling out of the 4-Nations Tournament. It's said that because Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are in the same group in ABC Championship, Saudi Arabia doesn't want to face Kuwait prior to the games.

CTBA also shows concerns about the Philippines, which hasn't confirmed the participating team.

If Saudi Arabia pulls out, CTBA will either replace Saudi Arabia with Taiwanese All-Stars or make the tourney a three-team tournament. If the field is left with only two teams, Taiwan NT and Kuwait, the tourney will probably become an one-on-one series.