Taiwanese Men’s Basketball Team Competes in International Student Basketball Cup (ISBC) 2019 in Moscow

A Taiwanese Men's basketball team delegation of 19 travelled to Russia where the team participated in the International Student Basketball Cup (ISBC) 2019. This was held in the Sports Complex CSKA in Moscow from May 28 till June 3. Eleven teams from nine countries—Australia, Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Taiwan, and others—were invited to compete. This was the second time the Taiwanese basketball team has come to Russia to take part in an international basketball competition. The first time was to take part in the Summer Universiade games held in Kazan in southwest Russia, in 2013.

The Education Division of the Taipei-Moscow Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission informed the local Taiwanese students and Mandarin Chinese teachers when the Taiwanese Mem's team would be competing and approximately a dozen of them showed up at each game to cheer the team on. Mr. Keng Chung-Yung, the Representative at the Representative Office in Moscow (TMECCC), attended two of the games.

The Taiwan team played six games during the competition: two preliminaries, one with Croatia, and one with Russia; a friendly match with Serbia; a semi-final against Slovenia; a final against Russia; and then won the match for third place in the competition, defeating Croatia. Mr. Keng also attended the award ceremony, at which the Taiwan team received its third place, and he gave a press interview about the training system for sportsmen in Taiwan.

The Taiwan team gave an excellent performance and finished in third place, without the advantage of personal height. Competing in the games gave all the players valuable experience of confronting the tall players from Eastern Europe, and this will be very beneficial preparation for important subsequent games, such as the William Jones Cup, and the Asia Basketball Cup.