Third CCOA title in a row for Chinese Taipei

Both Chinese Taipei and United Arab Emirates had won the earlier games of Challenge Cup of Asia against Mongolia, Thailand and Taipei so the winner of the tournament's last game would become champion.

The game started well for the hosts that got an early 2-man advantage during which Yen-Lin Shen opened the scoring. A couple of minutes later Yen-Chin Shen made it 2-0 which also was the score after the first period.

United Arab Emirates shocked the home team in the second period when Saeed Al Nuaimi, Juma Al Dhaheri and Ebraheem Budebs scored within three minutes to take the guests ahead. Yen-Chin Shen tied it at 30:40 with his second goal of the game. Close to the end of the middle period Chinese Taipei got a 2-man advantage but what happened then? Omar Al Shamisi scored while 3-on-5 to take UAE ahead again.

The saga would end well for the home team after all thanks to Li-Feng Lu who scored twice in the third period assisted by Yen-Lin Shen and Yu-Tung Chao.

This was the fifth time Chinese Taipei won Challenge Cup of Asia and the third time in a row. United Arab Emirates has also won it on two occasions: 2009 and 2012.

Mongolia got the bronze medals after beating Macau and Thailand. Thailand finished fourth and Macau got the last place of the five teams of Asia.

There is also a Challenge Cup of Asia Division I to be played in Kuwait 18-25 April. The participants are Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Qatar and Oman.

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