TPE - Veteran Lin Hung has faith in players

BANGKOK (FIBA Asia Championship for Women/FIBA World Championship for Women) - Chinese Taipei boss Lin Hung Ling-Yao has been in the coaching business for a very long time.

At the helm of the national side for a quarter of a century, she's been there for good times and bad.

The good have included a few trips to FIBA World Championship for Women, while among the bad was a 73-70 defeat to Japan in the third-place battle at the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship for Women.

She says there is a difference with the Chinese Taipei team she is leading now compared to the one she led at the start of her career.

"I've been coaching the team since 1988," she said.

"Right now, Chinese Taipei is a lot faster than in 1988."

Her squad was much quicker compared to opening day opponents India, a FIBA Asia Championship for Women Level I game Chinese Taipei won, 85-57.

Lin Hung's team's quickness showed on the defensive end, helping them to pressure India into committing many of their 24 turnovers.

Chinese Taipei had 18 steals, with Huang Fan-Shan and Tsai Pei-Chen coming up with four apiece.

Their speed showed on the counter-attack, too, where they had 18 fast-break points.

They should have had even more points in transition.

Lin Hung says she doesn't expect her team to have an advantage in the speed department over one of their biggest rivals for a place on the podium.

"We're not faster than Japan," she said.

"I think they are faster than us.

"They have more endurance."

Japan looked like a team that's a gold-medal contender in their opening day romp over Kazakhstan, but Chinese Taipei will offer much tougher opposition on Monday night.

Lin Hung is upbeat.

"We think we can qualify for the World Championship," she said.

"We beat Japan in the East Asia Games by six points (67-61), giving the younger players a lot of belief that they can win against them.

"We lost to them by 27 two years ago (at the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship for Women).

"We still have a chance to beat them. We need to have faith."

There will also be tough games coming up for Chinese Taipei against Korea and China.

Can the Chinese Taipei women draw inspiration from the men's performance in their 96-78 upset of China in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Asia Championship in Manila earlier this summer?

Lin Hung smiled.

"China played a terrible game," she said.

"They always tried to make the outside shot but they didn't go inside, even though we are smaller than them.

"We give the players faith (against China).

"We'll tell them to trust themselves."

For full and in-depth coverage of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Women, go to the official http://bangkok2013.fibaasia.net.

FIBA