Chinese Taipei: Mission to Madrid 

In a year when the Olympics take place in neighbouring China, the Chinese Taipei women will attempt to stun everyone by joining the party
In a country where men's basketball draws all of the fans' attention and media coverage, it's the women who obtain the best results.

The Chinese Taipei women's National Team has finished among the top four at the last 12 FIBA Asia Championships. They captured bronze medals in 1986, 1988, 1999 and 2005, while during the same period, the men just once finished on the podium and that was back in 1989 when they came in third. Since 1999, the men have not even reached the semi-finals. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, the women's National Team definitely spared the blushes of Chinese Taipei basketball.

The men finished eighth, while the women won silver after eliminating Japan in the semi-finals. While they lost to China in the gold medal game 90-59, the finish was Chinese Taipei's best-ever at an Asian Games. On the bigger stage, the situation is comparable. Since 1986, the women have played at FIBA World Championships in 1986, 1994, 2002 and 2006, while the men have never qualified. The men's last appearance was, in fact, 26 years ago.

The women are 22nd in the FIBA World Rankings and they are the fourth best team in Asia behind Korea, China and Japan. This small country gets the maximum out of its limited resources. Just consider that the Chinese Taipei national league, the WSBL, is only made up of only four teams and lasts only three weeks - the time for teams to have 12 games in the months of November and December. The domestic league is not the priority. Entire league seasons have been, in the past, suspended so the National Team can prepare for competitions. That was the case before the 2007 FIBA Asian Championship. When the WSBL is in action, there is one team that dominates. In 2007, Cathay Life took their 16th consecutive title. The team is so dominant that it is considering putting two teams in the WSBL next season. The idea may sound a little bit crazy but it makes sense because Cathay Life has so much talent that not everyone gets to play. In addition to head coach Hong Ling-Yao, nine of the National Team players come from Cathay Life.

The starting backcourt of Wen Chi and Chien Wei-Chuan are both on the books of Cathay Life. Thirteen years separate the young playmaker Wen from the experienced 37-year-old Chien. The two complement each other well and each is versatile. Wen is more of the scorer - she led the 2007 WSBL in scoring - while Chien's primary aim is to provide the team with leadership. Likewise, center Cheng Hui-Yun has seen her role change with the emergence of other players in the squad. Cheng had been the best offensive weapon and without question, the main inside presence, several years ago. But her numbers have decreased and that is because of the forward tandem of Liu Chun-Yi and Chiang Feng-Chun, a couple of 27-year-olds who are now the backbone of the team. They contribute to a good part of the scoring with Wen, thanks to their inside and outside versatility. On the bench, Tsai Pei-Chen, the leading rebounder in the last WSBL season, and the 21-year-old Li Wan-Ting bring a spark to the team and play important minutes.

Compared to the best Asian teams, China or Korea, Chinese Taipei lack size yet they do not try to compensate by putting up too many three-pointers. The team has a mature, collective and balanced game. They enjoy the big advantage of being able to play and train together throughout the year. Advancing to the quarter-finals will be very difficult at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid where Chinese Taipei are in the same group as EuroBasket bronze medalists Belarus and Cuba, the runners-up at last summer's FIBA Americas Championship. At the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil, Cuba won their meeting 75-70. Even if Chinese Taipei survive this, next up would be an extremely hard quarter-final against Brazil or Spain.