Superlative India hoopsters down Kazakhstan, take on Iran in qualification round to QFs

Hosts India dished out a superlative performance in their final round robin match of the FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup by getting the better of Kazakhstan 82 -61 in front of a vociferous home crowd of over 2500 who turned up at the Veer Savarkar Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday evening.

In a do-or-die match where the winner would make it to the next phase, India after a slow start managed to stay ahead at the first quarter which ended at 22-21 in the hosts’ favour.

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Piyush Choudhary playing a captain’s role and Shekhar Rathee scheming well dominated the second to change over at 45-36.

With the taller players Ansh Tomer and Abhyupang Mishra dominating the boards, the Indians were all over the Kazakh players.

Arman along with Adithya Vithal Shenoi coming off the bench provided the much-needed support to take India to a position of strength leading 65-47 at the end of the third quarter.

Hassan Oshobuge scored 21 to help Bahrain down Syria 92-68 in their FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup match in Ahmedabad on Tuesday

The final quarter saw the Kazakh team resorting to full court man-to-man marking but Rathee and Piyush managed to ensure they maintain the momentum for a win and will meet Iran in the qualification round to the quarterfinal on Thursday.

Sayam Mamutov, who has spearheaded the Kazakh challenge through the Championship, was once again in the forefront but with support from others not coming as expected, it was a lone battle Mamutov was waging.

Bahrain down Syria

Bahrain got the better of Syria in a Group B round robin match to finish second while Syria also made it to the last 16 finishing third.  New Zealand topped the group remaining unbeaten and booking a direct berth in the quarters. Bahrain won 92-68 after leading 40-39 at halftime.

Somto Patrick playing as a power forward top scoring for Bahrain with 26 points.  Hassan Oshobuge had an individual score of 21, while Mujtaba Mahioom Rayan got 17 and Ali Hussain Mohamed 10.

For Syria, Majak (14), Yusuf Takriti (13), Abdullah Kabani (13) and Taym Aldassouki (10) were among the scores.

China outscore Iran

China, outscoring Iran in every quarter of the game in their final round robin match in Group C, sealed a direct spot in the quarterfinal with a 96-58 verdict.

Iran finishing second in the group play the pre-quarterfinal against hosts India.

China’s Yizhaojie Zhang goes for the basket against Iran

Getting off to a good start China enjoyed better height advantage and with their shooters finding the hoop with precision raced to a 29-17 at the first quarter before entering the 2nd phase of the game with an 18-point lead (47-29).

Playing in the Center position, Junxian Li and Boxin Zhao garnered the rebounds while the Chinese forwards Chunzhi Zhang and Yozhaojie Zhang were on target from the opening made by Feiyan Lyu.

Iran found it hard the break the man-to-man marking and scored from sporadic attempts from the restricted area as they failed to get their long shots in.

Amir Reza Hazari, Mohammad Safa, Yasher Khaledi and Mohammad Saleh were among the scorers for Iran.

Qatar down Sri Lanka 99-43

Qatar qualified for the Round of 16 with 99-43 win over Sri Lanka, who went out of reckoning. Sri Lanka started by taking a 15-9 lead at the 7th minute of the first quarter only up surrender it and trailed 17-20.

The remainder of the game was dominated by Qatar as they scored 70 points against a hapless Sri Lankan defence, who surrendered rather meekly and, in the process, scored just 25 points.

A Sri Lanka hoopster attempts a basket against Qatar

Abdullah Mousa once again emerged the top scorer for Qatar with 37 points which incidentally is the highest individual score in a game in the Championship with only Azam Mohammad Yakan crossing the single digit with 11 points.

For Sri Lanka, Sudam Liyanage scored 10 and Liam Thomas 9.

Korea get the measure of Japan

In a game which went to the wire, Korea got the measure of Japan 67-64 with the lead changing 17 times and Korea scoring 19 out of 20 free throws while Japan failed to convert 14 free throws out of the 20, they earned.

Both teams displayed tremendous acumen, and it was the sustainability of the Koreans after trailing 28-37 at halftime. Their shooting forward Jihoon Yoon sunk in 27 points putting into shade the effort of Ari Takshaashi of Japan who had 19 points including five 3 pointers

Korea booked the last berth for a direct entry into the quarters while Japan need to play Qatar for a place in the last 8.

Results: India 82 (Piyush Choudhary 25, Ansh Tomer 17, Arman 13, Shekhar Rathee 8, Abhyupang Mishra 10) beat Kazakhstan (Sayan Mamutov 24, Sanzhar Aubakirov 8, Adil Sultanov 9).

Korea 67 (Jihoon Yoon 27, Jiwon Yoon 12) beat Japan 64 (Aru Takshaashi 19, Bemedict 16, McMillan 11).

Bahrain 92 (Somto Patrick 26, Hassan Oshobuge 21, Mujtaba Mahioom Rayan 17, Ali Hussain Mohamed 10) beat Syria 68 (Majak 14, Yusuf Takriti 13, Abhdullah Kabani 13, Taym Aldassouki 10).

China 96 (Chunzhi Zhang 11, Feiyan Lyu 10, Junxian Li 17, Boxin Zhao 13, Yixuan Yang 11) beat Iran 58 (Amir Reza Azari 8, Mohammad Safa 8, Yasher Khaledi 8, Mohammad Saleh 8, Soheyl Nezhad 9).

Qatar 99 (Abdullah Mousa 37, Azam Mohammad Yakan 11) beat Sri Lanka 43 (Sudam Liyanage 10, Liam Thomas 9).