MANILA, Philippines - Chinese-Taipei has never beaten China in a high-stakes, high-level basketball game like the FIBA-Asia Championship.
But last night the unthinkable happened when Chinese-Taipei stunned defending champion China, 96-78, before a cheering crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Today for me was the best,†said Chinese-Taipei coach Hsu Chin-Che.
“We did our best, an incredible game, a magical game,†added the coach after the victory that must have sparked celebrations on the streets of Taiwan.
With the victory, the Taiwanese moved on to the semifinals against mighty Iran. But regardless of what happens tomorrow, they cannot ask for anything more.
The Taiwanese coach was asked if he thinks they could beat Iran when they’ve already beaten the Philippines and China.
“Iran? Today I don’t want to think about tomorrow,†he said.
As the final seconds ticked away, the Taiwanese players on the bench were already celebrating, jumping up and down the floor and smiling from ear to ear.
In contrast, the Chinese side was a picture of gloom. Some of the Chinese players were already walking out of the court and their star player, Li JIanlian, was still on the bench, his towel over his head.
Every Taiwanese reporter covering the tournament said they’ve never beaten China Team A in a tournament like this.
A female Taiwanese reporter had tears in her eyes after the final buzzer sounded and marked the breakthrough win for the tiny island nation.
“I’ve played so long for the national team but it’s always been a blowout. We always lost the games in the second quarter,†said Taiwanese player Lei Tien.
China, now under Greek coach Panagiotis Giannakis, was just a mirror of its old self. In the preliminaries it lost to South Korea.