体坛英语新闻：Chinese Taipei secures second round berth at Asian Championship

WUHAN, China, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Taipei secured a second round berth of the 2011 FIBA men's basketball Asian Championship after beating Uzbekistan 81-71 here on Friday.

Bench players played important roles in Chinese Taipei's first group match victory. Chang Tsung-Hsein took a team-high 15 points and Mao Chia-En got 13.

Gennadiy Zinovev of Uzbekistan had a match-high 17 points but still couldn't help the team to win. Uzbekistan had 23 turnovers and committed fouls 20 times while Chinese Taipei only had nine fouls.

But Chinese Taipei missed 13-of-25 free throws while Wu Tai-Hao, who had Chinese Taipei's team-high 15 points in Thursday's first group match against defending champion Iran, missed six free throws.

"If Wu keeps playing like this, I think it would be difficult for him to find a job at a CBA club," joked Chou Chuan-San, Chinese Taipei's head coach. Wu will play for Zhejiang Guangsha for the next season at the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league.

Top three of each group will qualify for the second round at the Asian Championship.

Earlier Friday, Syria beat India 74-61 in a Group C match.