Zhao Rui of China goes for a layup during the men's preliminary round group match against Chinese Taipei at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province on Sept. 28, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Kaiyan)
HANGZHOU, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's men's basketball team outplayed their main opponents in Group B, Chinese Taipei, 89-69 at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Thursday evening.
Forward Du Runwang, who was selected into the Chinese team to replace Zeng Fanbo at the last minute, started in the game and showed his sharpshooter attribution, nailing five 3-pointers to contribute 17 points.
Another surprise for Team China was Wang Zhelin, who has faced doubts for underperforming at the FIBA World Cup. Playing only 13 minutes, the 29-year-old center displayed concentration on the court and had a robust presence in the paint. The downside was his free throws, with only one made out of five.
China head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic encourages his players during the match. (Xinhua/Pan Yulong)
China's head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic said at the post-game press conference that it was a "serious" game. "It was a 40-minute intense basketball game. It was a very important week for us, and I think we just went forward with our plan," he said.
Chinese Taipei center William Joseph Artino scored a game-high 21 points and Lin Ting-chien added nine.
"We have players such as Liu Cheng and Lin Ting-chien playing in the CBA league who know Team China players well, and they gave advice during our preparations," said Chinese Taipei's head coach Sang Mao-sen.
"We know they (team China) have an advantage in height, so we strengthened the defense in the paint, but we didn't do well in guarding their attempts behind the arc."
In other group matches, Jordan crushed Bahrain 84-60, the Philippines cruised past Thailand 87-72, South Korea defeated Qatar 76-64, Japan outperformed Indonesia 70-57, Iran defeated Saudi Arabia 81-66, Kazakhstan got past the United Arab Emirates 59-49, and Hong Kong, China nosed out Mongolia 69-64.
China will play against Hong Kong, China in their last group game on Saturday. ■
