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Friday, September 3, 2010
China advances to knockout round despite loss
Source: (Xinhua/Agencies)ANKARA - Charles Abouo scored 19 points to lead Cote d'Ivoire to an 88-79 win over Puerto Rico here on Thursday at the basketball world championship in group C, sending China to the knockout round on a three-team tiebreaker.
Cote d'Ivoire head coach Coast Randoald Dessarzin said Thursday that he was quitting although it was a difficult situation.
"I will never forget this game," Dessarzin told a press conference.
Cote d'Ivoire player Muhamed Kone said they were supposed to win by 12 points, but failed to do so, adding it's a good experience for the players and they would do their best to be successful in the future.
Puerto Rico's deputy coach Omar Gonzalez said the team could not concentrate on the game at the beginning, and said the game was a good victory for Cote d'Ivoire but a saddening result for Puerto Rico.
Turkey beats China 87-40
Oguz Savas scored 20 points as host Turkey trounced China 87-40 on Thursday in its final group game at the world championship.
Turkey, which had already won Group C, had a 20-0 scoring run to lead 39-13 at the break. Omer Asik's slam-dunk gave Turkey a 41-point lead in the final seconds of the third quarter. Semih Erden widened the gap to 47 points with 50 seconds to go at the end of the last quarter.
Turkey (5-0) plays the fourth-place New Zealand of Group D in the knockout stage in Istanbul.
China (1-4) reached the next round in Istanbul on points differential ahead of Ivory Coast and Puerto Rico. Russia (4-1) finished second and Greece (3-2) third.
Turkey center Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Asik had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Turkey out-rebounded China 44-33 in a game which Turkey scored 24 points from turnovers. Turkey shot 41 percent from the free-throw line, while China missed its only chance.
Sun Yue scored 15 points for China. No other Chinese players hit more than nine points.
The lead changed only once and the teams were level once.
Olympic champion Liu to miss Asian Games
Source: Xinhua By Sun XiaochenOlympic champion Liu Zige will miss the Guangzhou Asian Games in November, China's swimming governing body confirmed on Wednesday.
Liu's coach, Jin Wei, said last week the swimmer would skip the event to focus on world-class events such as next year's World Championships in Shanghai and the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Liu, the women's 200m butterfly world record-holder who won the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has not competed since her appearance at the Berlin Word Cup last November.
"She has been fatigued for almost two years after the Beijing Olympics. To prepare for the London Games, we'd better give her a rest to recover her strength and keep her form," said Shang Xiutang, the vice-head of the national swimming governing body.
Shang's words echoed those of Jin.
"Top-class events will be her No 1 priority, especially next year's World Championships in Shanghai and the 2012 London Olympics, so missing this year's Asian Games is acceptable," Jin told Xinhua last week.
In January, Liu traveled to the UK to train with Bill Furmiss, coach of double Beijing gold medalist Rebecca Adlington, and Mark Schubert, coach of American veteran swimmer Janet Evans, for four weeks. She was supposed to take part in the Pan Pacific Championships but canceled her trip because Jin failed to get a visa.
Liu's absence opens the door for another young swimmer, Jiao Liuyang, who finished runner-up behind Liu at the Beijing Olympics.
"Without Liu, we still have other young girls competitive enough to seek gold medals in the pool," Shang said.
Liu's absence from the Asian Games may give her a long-awaited break to refresh herself after constantly appearing in major events the past two years.
Liu, who earned the only gold in the pool for China by finishing the women's 200m butterfly final in 2 minutes, 04.18 seconds in 2008, posted a record 2:01.81 in the same event at China's National Games in Jinan last year, shaving almost two seconds off the world mark of 2:03.41 set by Jessica Schipper of Australia at the 2009 Rome Worlds.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
China on brink of Turkey exit
China's young basketball team failed to bounce back from its loss on Tuesday night to Puerto Rico and is now on the brink of World Championship elimination after falling to Russia, 89-80, on Wednesday.
Former LA Lakers guard Sun Yue led all scorers with 19 points, but Washington Wizards forward Yi Jianlian, one of the highest scorers so far in the tournament, failed to deliver and managed just 14 points.
China (1-3) faces group favorite Turkey in Thursday's last preliminary-round match, but even an upset over the host may not be enough to assure the team a ticket to the knockout phase of the competition as its fate is now out of its hands.
China found early offensive rhythm and held a 21-15 lead after the first quarter.
However, Russia showed its depth from the bench in the second quarter and overturned the deficit.
Ivanovic moves on with easy win over Zheng
NEW YORK - Unseeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the third round of the US Open with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over 21st-seeded Zheng Jie of China.
Ivanovic, the former world No. 1 who now stands at No. 40, needed 56 minutes Wednesday to defeat Zheng at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Ivanovic won the 2008 French Open, but has never been past the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
She hit 22 winners in making quick work of Zheng. The match was played in sweltering conditions - with bright sunshine and temperatures in the 90s.
Chinese basketball coach says team going forward
Source: XinhuaANKARA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese coach Bob Donewald said Wednesday China's national team is moving forward despite losses at the men's basketball world championship.
"We got probably the youngest team in the world championships and seven brand new players ... Chinese team is going forward and all this will make us better," Donewald told a press conference after China's 80-89 loss to Russia.
He congratulated the Russian team, saying they had an outstanding game plan and pulled away down the stretch while the Chinese team ran out of gas in the last minutes.
Former NBA player Wang Zhizhi, who is having his last world championships, said he still saw hope from the games.
"I will do my best as the oldest player in the team. I hope we can improve as much as possible through these games," he told reporters. "I'm just a paving stone for the growth of China's basketball. I hope we can some day become one of the strongest teams in the world after generations of efforts."
Russian coach David Blatt said he was proud of his players, who played hard defense and never gave up.
"China played hard. We could have lost by nine or 10 points and still qualified but we kept our foot on the gas pedal and kept pushing," he said.
Guard Evgeny Voronov said the game was very important for Russia, which is for sure going to Istanbul for the next round after Wednesday's victory.
Russia rallied to the win on Wednesday, scoring their third victory at the worlds.
Playing without NBA star center Yao Ming, who is recovering from a foot injury, China has a record of 81-89 with Greece, 83-73 with Cote d'Ivoire and 76-84 with Puerto Rico in previous games at the worlds. It will fight Turkey on Thursday.
Russia has defeated Puerto Rico 75-66 and beat Cote d'Ivoire 72-66 but lost to Turkey 56-65. It faces Greece on Thursday.
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