EVEN the 27th Fiba-Asia Men's Championship wasn't spared by petty thieves.
The assistant coach of Chinese-Taipei's national team lost his backpack which he left on the team bench shorty after the Taiwanese' 91-87 win over Jordan on Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Hsu Chih-chao said his backpack contained his mobile phone, cash, and hotel key, among other personal belongings.
Elated by the team's win over the Jordanians, Hsu said he immediately proceeded with the rest of the Taiwanese to the dugout shortly after the buzzer.
Upon realizing that he forgot his backpack at the team bench, he immediately went back to the MOA Arena court, only to find out the bag was no longer there.
The Chinese-Taipei team already reported the incident to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP)
This mark the second incident in the venue that thieves struck during a game after the Meralco Bolts dugout was ransacked while the team was playing Globalport during the PBA Philippine Cup.
Gilas Pilipinas and Chinese-Taipei won't be playing until Saturday at the end of the first-round preliminaries.
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