Yugoslavia Embarrasses China to Win Men's Basketball GoldThe underdogs Yugoslavia embarrassed the hosts China 101-61 to win the men's basketball gold medal in the Universiade on Friday.Friday night could be a shame of the host team as neither of their men's or women's teams failed to live up to their expectations of winning gold medals, the heaviest ones in the biannual event. For the Chinese men's basketball, Friday's final could have been the best chance to break the iceberg to win the first gold medal in the world-level games. But the young squad, five of which are from the national team including the "Walking Great Wall" - Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and Menk Batere, never showed their determination to respond to Yugoslavs' all-around performances. Yugoslavia put the game beyond doubt even in the first half when they took an overwhelming control on the boards, and shot almost perfectly in the field. The visitors also taught a lesson to the hosts on transmitting the ball, running fast-breaks and breaking through the defence. They even played a complete inside game in front of China's center trio, who average 2.16 meters, maybe the tallest center combination in the world. China only played one third of a quarter game, leading 9-4 over three minutes into the game before Yugoslavs overtook them at 14- 13 and never looked back. The break saw a 16-point gap at 48-32 in favor of Yugoslavia, who buried 3-pointers one by one in the third quarter to extend the lead. Both teams played the fourth quarter with the backups, when the Yugoslavian second-team still having the better of the game. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |