But the 6-foot-9 Asi Taulava took it all in stride in his confrontation with the 7-foot-9 Ri Myung Hun in the RP-North Korea encounter in the Busan Games. A confrontation Taulava described as strange.
"It’s a strange feeling. He’s the biggest man in the world and I’d never looked up so high. I thought he was standing on some table. It’s pretty strange," he said. In the end, the Fil-Tongan took the better of the 35-year-old Ri who lost his wind and stamina battling for turf underneath against the 28-year-old RP pivotman.
Taulava finished the night with 13 points and 15 rebounds while Ri, who literally rose to prominence as a gangling youth in the 1990 Beijing Games, matched that output but hauled down only nine rebounds.
"He’s awesome," Taulava.
He pounded his way around the stratospheric Ri right off the initial skirmishes and punished the Korean with undergoal stab and baby-hooks.
Then on 5:05 of the second quarter, Taulava went one-on-one with Ri and then skied over the Korean and tried to dunk one in, but missed.
And then early in the third quarter, Taulava found another chance to jam but he missed so badly, he clung to the rim and eased the break on his fall. There were worried looks from the RP bench as he lay motionless for what seemed an eternity. Then he picked himself up and started muscling the Korean again.
"I wanted to show I wasn’t intimidated by him. I know I had youth compared to his age and so I thought I would wear him down because I’m so much younger than him and take advantage when he tires," he said.
The battle plan worked like charm as Ri tried to pace himself throughout the game but just couldn’t kept with the younger and heftier Taulava.