22 Sep. 2015- Lebanon will face Chinese Taipei tomorrow in their 2015 FIBA Asia opening game at 4:30 P.M (Beirut time). Our national team will be looking for the win while facing the 4th best team in the last edition of FIBA Asia.
Chinese Taipei’s history in Asia:
Taipei have never missed a FIBA Asia Championship since 1960 but they failed to reach the gold! Back to 1960 and 1962 Taipei noted its best result in Asia by securing the 2nd place (silver medal). Since the 90’s, the team failed to reach Asia’s podium! In 2013 they scored their best result from 25 years by booking the 4th place in the 2013 FIBA Asia held in Philippines!
In 2014, Taipei participated in the Asian games playing against the top teams in Asia, Iran, China, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Jordan! They secured the 2nd place after loosing to Iran by 10 points in the finals. The coach was counting on experienced rosters with a 28.5 average age & 1.91 cm average tall squad.
Lebanon VS Chinese Taipei – Head To Head:
Lebanon faced Taipei in FIBA Asia 3 times in 2001, 2007 and 2011! Historically, our national team had the upper hand as we were able to beat Chinese Taipei 2 times and we lost in 2011 when coach Ghassan Sarkis decided to give our young players a chance to represent Lebanon.
In 2001, Lebanon defeated Taipei in the quarterfinals 87-72. Our national team grabbed a silver medal in this championship losing to China in the final.
In 2007, Lebanon crushed Chinese Taipei by a massive 31 points in the quarterfinals. Fadi Khatib was the scorer of the game with 28 points, Brian Bechara the best rebounder with 7 rebounds. Lebanon unfortunately missed the chance to reach the Olympic Games and unexpectedly lost the final against Iran by 5 points!
In 2011, Lebanon lost against Taipei by 2 points (58-60) in the 2nd round for the first time in their head to head history! Hoskin scored 19 points and grabbed 11 Rebounds for Lebanon in that game while Rodrigue Akl gave 6 assists. Lebanon was ranked 6th in this championship.
We wish our players all the best in their opening game tomorrow!
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