Indian hoopsters go down tamely to Japan 56-91; Korea and Iran post comfortable victories

India went down rather tamely to Japan 56-91 in a Group D match in the FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup encounter at the Veer Savarkar Stadium at Ahmedabad.

India started well by taking the lead in the second minute before the Japanese held sway and dominated with their speed, skill and precision as they tormented the Indian players at the offensive board garnering the rebounds and scoring from second chance attempts.

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Benedict and Cayman along with Eishin Konno Pugnyo shade the effort of Shekhar Rathee who was excellent as a guard.  The Indians lacked the wherewithal to block the Japanese forwards and trailed by 14 at the break.

The second half also saw the winners consolidate the lead as the hosts just could not match their opponents. Aakash Iyappan, Ansh Tomer and Mishra played well but their efforts were just not enough.

A Korean forward attempts a basket against Kazakhstan in their FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup in Ahmedabad

In another Group D game Korea defeated Kazakhstan 95-68 leading 39-24 at halftime.  Jihoon Yoon and Jiwon Yoon were the prominent scorers for the winners and got good support from Eom Jihoo and Geonwoo Hoo.  For Kazakhstan Sayan Mamuhoo and Datia Sultanov were among the scorers.

Islamic Republic of Iran had no difficulty in putting out Qatar 94-69 with Mohammad Shamsi, Amir Reza Azari and Mohammad Safa doing the scoring.  Mouse Abdullah emerged the top scorer for Qatar with 26 individual points while Ameer Ibrahim, Tameem Ashraf and Mohd Said Bedri contributing with double digit scores.

Results: Japan 91 (Benedict 20, Eishen 16, Cayman 12, Arvi Taka 12) beat India 56 (Shekhar Rathee 16, Aakash Iyappan 12, Ansh Tomer 8, A Mishra 8).

Korea 95 (Jihoon Yoon 21, Jiwoon Yoon 16, Heonwoo Hoo 11, Eom Jihoo 10) beat Kazakhstan 68 (Sayan Mamuhoo 17, D Sultanov 10).

IRIL94 (Mohammad Shamsi 19, Amor Reza Azari 16, Mohammad Safa 13) beat Qatar 69 (Arousal Abdullah 26, Mohammad Said Bedri 14, Tameem Ashraf 12, Ameer Ibrahim 10).