TAIPEI— Did the Philippines really play to lose—and lose big—against Jordan in its Jones Cup debut Saturday night, and maybe keep its Fiba-Asia opponents in the dark about its real worth?
That was the question that sportswriters from this progressive city tried asking a five-publication team that came from the Philippines to cover the prestigious event.
“We just don’t think that it was normal for the Philippines to play that way,” said Chen Chin-hung, a veteran reporter from the Youth Daily News Service, who had also visited Manila several times to cover the Taiwanese athletes in different events.
The Philippines, a three-time champion here which sent its finest professional stars back home, was mangled into submission by the heftier, taller and talented Jordanians, 90-59.
“So tell us,” Chen said, asking the question for his group: “Did you come here to not win at all?”
He tried so hard to get an answer that would confirm their suspicion because it could have been the angle that they were trying to work on. As Jones Cup veterans, even the Taiwanese couldn’t believe what they just saw.
* * *
It seems that Chen’s question has some bearing, since most of the countries represented here, except Jordan in all likelihood, are not playing to their true potential in order to conceal their “aces” for the Fiba-Asia qualifying in Tianjin, China, next month.
In fact, even the home team, which prevailed narrowly over Japan Saturday night, used its 7-foot ace, the pony-tailed Tseng Wen-ting, sparingly like the Japanese, who reportedly did not even bother taking their 7-foot-2 center to this tournament.
* * *
Coach Yeng Guiao will name his final 12-man roster for the Tianjin event on July 22, the deadline set by the Fiba, and he is worried that this might leak in some way and dishearten some of his players here who won’t make it.
And from the way he talked over breakfast at the Sunworld Dynasty Hotel, he still isn’t sure who will be dropped.
Guiao also said that their stint in this nine-nation tournament, aside from playing to win, is to be able to see how Korea and Japan play, since the two countries belong to the Philippine bracket in Tianjin.
Sri Lanka is the fourth team in the group.http://sports.inquirer.net/sportsevents/sportsevents/view/20090720-216284/Jordan-rout-of-RP-stumps-local-scribes
That was the question that sportswriters from this progressive city tried asking a five-publication team that came from the Philippines to cover the prestigious event.
“We just don’t think that it was normal for the Philippines to play that way,” said Chen Chin-hung, a veteran reporter from the Youth Daily News Service, who had also visited Manila several times to cover the Taiwanese athletes in different events.
The Philippines, a three-time champion here which sent its finest professional stars back home, was mangled into submission by the heftier, taller and talented Jordanians, 90-59.
“So tell us,” Chen said, asking the question for his group: “Did you come here to not win at all?”
He tried so hard to get an answer that would confirm their suspicion because it could have been the angle that they were trying to work on. As Jones Cup veterans, even the Taiwanese couldn’t believe what they just saw.
* * *
It seems that Chen’s question has some bearing, since most of the countries represented here, except Jordan in all likelihood, are not playing to their true potential in order to conceal their “aces” for the Fiba-Asia qualifying in Tianjin, China, next month.
In fact, even the home team, which prevailed narrowly over Japan Saturday night, used its 7-foot ace, the pony-tailed Tseng Wen-ting, sparingly like the Japanese, who reportedly did not even bother taking their 7-foot-2 center to this tournament.
* * *
Coach Yeng Guiao will name his final 12-man roster for the Tianjin event on July 22, the deadline set by the Fiba, and he is worried that this might leak in some way and dishearten some of his players here who won’t make it.
And from the way he talked over breakfast at the Sunworld Dynasty Hotel, he still isn’t sure who will be dropped.
Guiao also said that their stint in this nine-nation tournament, aside from playing to win, is to be able to see how Korea and Japan play, since the two countries belong to the Philippine bracket in Tianjin.
Sri Lanka is the fourth team in the group.http://sports.inquirer.net/sportsevents/sportsevents/view/20090720-216284/Jordan-rout-of-RP-stumps-local-scribes
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