Taiwanese basketball team arrives for two games
To get all you basketball fans out of that slump you’ve been feeling, the National Sports Council and the Taiwanese government have organized the first ever match-up between two Belizean teams and Taiwan’s National Team. The twelve players representing Taiwan arrived in Belize today after playing in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala. While Taiwan has been warming up, the Belizean contingent has been caught up in the off season and the September Celebrations but they say it’ll still be a good show. Janelle Chanona reports.
Q: “What does a basketball player from one of the top leagues in the world do to prepare for a game?”
Charles Chen, Small Forward, 6′ 3″
“Like relax and do your part and enjoy.”
Q: “Are you nervous at all about playing?”
Charles Chen
“No. Never. When they went to Costa Rica, they lost because the Costa Ricans were more prepared and they had more support on their backs.”
Q: “So are you worried about the Belizean crowd?”
Charles Chen
“No.”
Tien Shi-Ho, Manager, Taiwan National Team
“We don’t know which team we are playing against here.”
Q: “But you are not getting excited about playing here?”
Tien Shi-Ho
“We are very excited to be here because I think most of our players, it’s their first time to come here so I think they are very interested about everything, not only in to play the basketball, but maybe sightseeing or somewhere.”
Marshall Nuñez, Chairman, National Sports Council
“We don’t have anything to lose. We’ll go out there and do our best. The Taiwanese team has to come out and prove how good they are. Our players will go out and play their best. Hopefully we can win.
The players have in fact committed themselves and dedicated themselves to some hard work over the past few days.”
Q: “How have ticket sales been going?”
Marshall Nuñez
“Well I haven’t been able to keep a tab on that but we know for sure the Taiwanese people have been coming out to buy tickets in support of their team. I want to make a special appeal to Belizeans to come out in lieu of the Taiwanese living in Belize, come out and outnumber the Belizean fans. It’s a good game, exciting and we want everybody to come out.”
Janelle Chanona
“It may only be an exhibition match-up but Taiwan’s National Team promises to play some hard core basketball against our Belizean boys… and it promises to get interesting. With two very tall centers from Taiwan’s National Team, I am Janelle Chanona for News Five.”
Taiwan’s team placed fourth in the pre-Olympic trials in Asia and some of the players are candidates for the MVP title in the Asian League. Belize’s defense will take the form of Keith Acosta, Claude “Too Tall” Jones, Ian Augustine and Darren Bovell among others. Channel Five’s live coverage of tonight’s game featuring Belize’s National Team and Taiwan’s National Team will begin at nine. We will also broadcast tomorrow’s game against the B.T.L. Nets.
