Mongolia barbecued

Mongolia was the undisputed whipping boy and laughing stock at the recent 14th Asian Games basketball competitions in Busan. It was excruciatingly painful to read the boxscores of each Mongolian massacre. The winless Mongolians were barbecued and crushed by an average losing margin of, believe it or not, 44 points, in five lopsided games. Obviously, Mongolia didn’t belong in the 12-nation tournament. The Mongolians never came close to scoring a win. They lost to South Korea by 80 points, Japan by 50, Qatar by 38, United Arab Emirates by 25, and Kuwait by 27. Mongolia shot 74.6 points and gave up 118.6 an outing in a shameful display of basketball ineptitude.

For the record, here’s how the 12 teams finished from top to bottom: South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Philippines, North Korea, Japan, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia.

North Korea shocked the experts by placing a strong fifth. Giant 7-9 center Ri Myong Hun, backed up by the three Paks (Pak Chon Jong, Pak In Chol, and Pak Kyong Nam), powered the Northerners to a 74-65 upset over Japan to finish fifth. Ri, who scored 55 points against the Philippines at the 1991 Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) championships in Kobe, compiled 22 points and 18 rebounds to lift North Korea to a 74-64 decision over Hong Kong in his most impressive Busan showing.

Eight of Mongolia’s players in Busan saw action at the East Asian Games in Osaka last year. None of the eight was taller than 6-3. So the Mongolians were pitifully undersized. But there was a Mongolian standout in Osaka, 7-foot Sharavjamts Tserenjanhor who was absent in Busan.

Mongolia was also winless in Osaka and wound up last in the seven-nation tournament. The Mongolians, however, had some close calls, losing to Chinese-Taipei by five and Kazakhstan by nine. Still, the bottom line showed a big, fat egg. Mongolia averaged 77 points and surrendered 115.5 in six games. The average losing margin was 38.5. Mongolia bowed to Japan by 61, China by 72, and Australia by 67.

Tserenjanhor, 27, was a one-man show for Mongolia at the East Asian Games. He fired 37 against China, 42 against South Korea, 32 against Australia, and 24 against Kazakhstan. Would he have made a difference in Busan? Perhaps. Tserenjanhor would’ve eased the pressure off 6-3 Tagirvas Tuvshinbayar who took the load of the offense on his shoulders at the Asiad. Tuvshinbayar hit 42 points against Chinese Taipei in Osaka and was Mongolia’s chief gunner in Busan.

So where was Tserenjanhor? Why wasn’t he in Busan?

Albert Chen, writing in Sports Illustrated, said the Mongolian was discovered by Dale Brown when the retired Louisiana State coach held a clinic in Ulan Bator last year. Brown tipped off Harlem Globetrotters owner Mannie Jackson on the man mountain and before long, the Mongolian was shipped to the US with his wife Erdenebulgan and their two-year-old son Munkhiinod.

If Wang Zhizhi made history by becoming the first Asian to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Tserenjanhor left his imprint in the record books as the first Asian to play for the Globies.

"If you’re a seven-footer who can bounce a basketball and chew gum at the same time, everyone wants to look at you," said Harlem coach-on-paper Tex Harrison. "Shark (the Mongolian’s nickname) is special. I never imagined we’d have a Mongolian but with the way he shoots and handles the ball, he fits in. I’m glad we got him before anyone else did."

Phoenix Suns assistant director of player personnel David Griffin noted: "As a physical specimen, he’s intriguing. He’s as agile as any 7-footer I’ve ever seen. If he were 18 or 19, people would be talking about him as a high NBA draft pick."

Globies de facto head coach Bernie Bickerstaff, who has called the shots for several NBA clubs, said: "He needs to improve defensively. These things will improve with time. We’ll bring him along carefully but he’s going to get very good, very fast. It’s clear he understands the game."

Shark, who weighs only 210 pounds, started playing the game at the age of 17. He became a celebrity in Mongolia because there’s no person taller in the country. In a high school game once, he dunked the ball off an offensive rebound and fans talked about it for years. Nobody had ever dunked in Mongolia before.

According to Chen, Tserenjanhor grew up in the mining town of Erdenet where he studied linguistics at the Foreign Language Institute. Shark was three weeks short of finishing law school when he moved to Phoenix on the Globetrotters’ invitation. Shark said eventually, he hopes to run for public office in Mongolia because "life is difficult there (and) we need to make it better."

Shark would’ve been quite an attraction in Busan, alongside Ri and Yao Ming. If he played, maybe Mongolia wouldn’t have been barbecued to a crisp–it would’ve still been dead meat but probably only slightly skewered.