Well, OK, this is not new. It happened last week. But I didn’t have time blogging. Taiwan women’s NT lost to the US 101-66 in the gold medal game of the 2011 World University Game in Shenzhen, China. However, it was the best finish and the first medal ever for Taiwan in the games.
The medal is also Taiwan’s first medal at major international competitions on any level, men or women.
Continue reading “2011 WUG: Taiwan women’s basketball wins silver medal”
— Taiwan women’s NT point guard Ma Yi-hung injured her right ankle and is expected to miss the opening game today against Malaysia.
Losing Ma is devastating. Taiwan NT is now down to only one PG — Chen Yi-feng — and nine players after losing Chu Yung-hsuan and 15-year-old Lin Yu-ting also to injury.
Taiwan NT head coach Hung Ling-yao, who is coaching WUG squad in Serbia now, has requested to replace injured players with three players — Huang Fan-shan, Lee Wan-ting and Chen Yu-chun — from the WUG team.
— Speaking of which, Taiwan WUG team beat Slovakia 79-76 in double overtime and finished for 7th place with four wins and three losses.
Taiwan is the only Asian team in the quarterfinal as Japan and China ranked 9th and 10th respectively. However, this is the worst finish for Taiwan in the last four WUGs. It was 5th, 5th and 4th in the previous three World University Games.
— The Japan NT is not the REAL national team. There are only six current NT members on the squad. However, never underestimate the Japanese. Japan has always been a quick, sharp-shooting and hard-working team.
— Korea is represented by two-time WKBL champion Shinhan Bank. It’s regarded the team to beat in the four-team tournament.
Keep your eyes on Chun Joo-weon and Jung Sun-min, the veterans both played in the WNBA and had more than a dozen years of international competition experience for Korea.
Also pay attention to 202cm center Ha Eun-joo, elder sister of former NBA center Ha Seung-jin (221cm).
(Source: Apple Daily)
Taiwan women’s WUG national team upset USA 71-62 with a 10-0 rally late in the final five minutes and finished for 5th place in the World University Game in Bangkok, Thailand.
Taiwan almost lost the 13-point advantage it built in the first half but regrouped in the decisive quarter to hold off the American’s furious inside attack. Guard Wu Min-fang had five threes in the game. Center Tsai Pei-chen had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Taiwan men’s WUG national team lost to Brazil 80-66 in its last game and finished for a disappointing 20th place, the worst finish for Taiwan in its WUG history.
Taiwan men’s team did not play in Izmir, Turkey in 2005. In 2003, it finished for 16th place in Daegu, Korea.
Chien Jia-hong
Led by 196cm forward Chien Jia-hong, eight of 12 players on Taiwan NT roster for the 2007 World University Games, which was announced June 30, came from SBL team.
Several unheralded players made the roster while a couple of notable SBL players were omitted, which included Lin Yi-huei (Dacin), Zuo Tsun-kai (Azio), Hsiao Yuan-chan (ETSN) and Wang Shin-kai (BOT).
The 2007 WUG will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, starting from August 7.
Roster:
Hong Chih-shan 174cm 1985.7.5 Azio
Chien Jia-hong 196cm 1987.1.6 Azio
Chen Shi-jay 173cm 1985.9.24 Azio
Chang Yi-wen 185cm 1984.4.13 Yulon
Liu Shen-yao 190cm 1983.11.24 Yulon
Chen Shun-hsiang 190cm 1985.5.25 BOT
Wang Jian-wei 190cm 1985.1.7 TB
Hsu Wei-shen 198cm 1985.3.23 Yulon
Chen Jun-jay 185cm
Sun Hwan-bo 180cm
Yang Chen-jung
Chang Chi-wei
Head coach: Lee Chin-chi
Taiwan could not stop the furious rally by Japan and lost in overtime, 105-112, in the final ranking game (15th-16th) of the 2003 World University Games. Chang Chih-feng and Chen Hsin-an had 37 and 35 points respectively in the heartbreaking loss.
Led by Chang Chih-feng’s four three-pointers, Taiwan jumped to an early lead in the first quarter, leading by as many as 19 points. But the Japanese controlled the boards and came back.
Taiwan still led by five with 1:44 remaining in the game, but Japan made three consecutive three-pointers to pull ahead by two. Wu Yang-huei’s two free-throws with 4 seconds left leveled the score at 94-94. The game went into overtime as Japan failed to make the desperation shot.
Japan quickly decided the outcome in the extra session after a 7-0 run. Taiwan settled for the 16th-place in their debut in the WUG, while Japan was ranked 15th. Taiwan was 2-4 in six games.
Chen Hsin-an scored 35 points for the second straight game, shooting an astonishing 13-for-15 from the two-point range but only 1-for-9 from 3-PT and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. Chang Chih-feng was even more eye-catching with his 37 points outburst, including 8 three-pointers.
For the entire tournament, Taiwan counted on Chen and Chang. Chen Hsin-an averaged 22 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists while Chang averaged 19.2 points and 4.2 rebounds. Chen and Chang both ranked in the top six in tournament scoring.
Ironically, both Chen and Chang are banned from the national team play this year by the CTBA (Chinese Taipei Basketball Association) – Chen for skipping the Asian Games last year because of participation in the Sacramento Kings training camp, Chang for skipping NT training camp while playing for a Div-II team in China.
With NT’s shaky outside shooting, they can definitely use the perimeter scoring of Chen and Chang. Too bad they can’t play for the national team in Harbin (Asian Championship).
Russia will meet Serbia-Montenegro in the gold medal game today (Aug. 31). China meets Canada for the bronze medal.
Ranking Game results:
5/6: Bulgaria 76-72 Turkey
7/8: Australia 91-88 Ukraine
9/10: Estonia 80-78 Germany
11/12: Sweden 86-81 Mexico
13/14: Czech 107-95 Korea
15/16: Japan 112-105(OT) Taiwan
17/18: South Africa 69-56 Hong Kong
19. Kazakhstan
*Women’s final ranking
Gold: China, Silver: Italy, Bronze: Russia
4. Taiwan, 5. Serbia-Montenegro, 6. USA, 7. Czech, 8. Ireland, 9. Slovenia, 10. Korea, 11. Finland, 12. Japan, 13. Canada, 14. Thailand, 15. Hungary, 16. Mexico, 17. South Africa
Taiwan will meet Japan again in the final ranking game (15th-16th) of the World University Games as they beat Kazakhstan but lost to Czech Republic on Aug. 28 and 29 in advancing games.
Led by Chang Chih-feng’s 19 points, Taiwan beat Kazakhstan, 71-59, on Aug. 28 and grabbed its second win in the games. Chen Hsin-an had 12 and Chien Ming-fu had 11 in the victory.
In the following day Taiwan had trouble containing the inside attack of the Czech Republic and wound up losing, 86-98. However Chen Hsin-an finally had a break-thru game by exploding for 35 points (7-14 3-PT) in 37 minutes. Chien Ming-fu had 16.
WUG Men’s ranking game:
1/2 Russia vs. Serbia-Montenegro
3/4 China vs. Canada
5/6 Turkey vs. Bulgaria
7/8 Australia vs. Ukraine
9/10 Germany vs. Estonia
11/12 Mexico – Sweden
13/14 Korea vs. Czech
15/16 Taiwan vs. Japan
17/18 Hong Kong vs. South Africa
Note – Taiwan Women will meet Russia in WUG bronze medal game.
165cm “Little Giant” Chien Ming-fu scored all of his 18 points in the second half on 7-8 shooting as Taiwan edged Japan, 85-82, and finally got their first victory in the World University Games.
Sitting out the first half, Chien was inserted when starting point guard Lee Chih-ming committed his fourth foul. In 15 minutes, Chien teared Japan apart with his dazzling speed. Chien’s two free-throws with 11.2 seconds remaining iced the 3-point victory for Taiwanese.
Chen Hsin-an topped the team with 21 points, although shooting 1-7 from the three-point range. Chang Chih-feng had 14. Japan was led by Hiroyuki Kinoshita’s 18 points. Kyosuke Setoyama had 14. Identical twins Joji Takeuchi had 11 points and Kosuke Takeuchi with 7 points, both pulling down 7 baords.
Taiwan Hoops 