The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : India pulls off exciting win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004

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Sport - Basketball

India pulls off exciting win

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, SEPT. 15. India qualified for a top eight slot with a pulsating 67-65 win over Yemen in a Group D clash of the 18th Asian Basketball Championship for junior men on Wednesday.

The silence was deafening and so was the gasp when the diminutive ball-handler Sanjay sunk a long ranger. When the long hooter sounded soon thereafter, there was a virtual pandemonium as the crowd and the local officials came down to embrace the players and the team management on a superb victory.

This was India's second win in as many matches in the group and with a probable win expected over Qatar on the morrow, the host could top the group and even be placed in a relatively easier pool for the second round.

Yemen, after its fluent win over Qatar last evening, was more fancied. But the India think-tank did study the opponents well enough to negate the full court press that Yemenis thrived on.

In the process to keep pace with the much sharper Yemen five-some at the start, the Indians committed too many fouls which even saw the exit of captain Jagdeep Singh in the third quarter and the scintillating Talwinderjit Singh towards the dying moments.

Efficient back-up

But the back-up proved equally efficient and with Sanjay and Bijobi Vakkachan coming good with a couple of crucial baskets, the Indian hoopsters nosed ahead.

Badr Mastor, who otherwise was too hot to handle along with Adel Bourji, attempted a three-pointer with seconds ticking away but had the mortification of the seeing the ball bounce off the ring. He buried his head in disappointment but Indians were not complaining though.

The match was keen all through. Though Yemen led 19-16 in the first quarter, the Indian boys enjoyed a slender lead (18-16 and 18-17) in the other two quarters with the result that the teams were tied 52-all going into the last 10 minutes.

Caution was the key and though the pace did drop a bit, Yemen fumbled twice under the boards while the lanky Yadwinder Singh and M. Anoop, who came in for his captain did an appreciable job in keeping the rivals at bay.

Bijobi made it 64-62 for India with just over a minute left and though Adel netted a three pointer for Yemen to once again take the lead at 65-64, India could not be denied victory as the cool Sanjay sunk the winning three-pointer with barely 22 seconds for the long whistle.

China holds off Kazakhstan

Earlier in a Group A clash, China the reigning champion, warded off a determined Kazakhstan 84-74, thanks to some sound rebounds. The Kazakhs fought diligently till the very end but had to emerge second best in the contest.

Hong Kong China, which lost to India last night, redeemed itself with a resounding 94-51 win over Qatar. Qatar, last year's semifinalist, has lost both its matches thus far.

Saudi Arabia inflicted Singapore its second defeat with a 77-52 margin in Group A.

The results:

Group A: China 84 (Wang Yong 17, Wang Nan 16) bt Kazakhstan 74 (Rustam 19, Roman Assbekov 18, Maxim Voyeikov 9) (HT: 37-29).

Saudi Arabia 77 (Mohd. Shelsiti 15, Yazid Al Dosari 15, Mohd Asaad 14) bt Singapore 52 (Oh Wei Jie 25, Wong Wei Long 16)(HT: 46-28).

Group B: Chinese Taipei 116 (Cheng Jen Wei 19, Tso Tsung-Kai 19, Hsu Yi Hsiu 13, Lin Yi Huei 12, Yen Chen Hung 9) bt Kyrgyzstan 76 (Aziz Halmurzin 21, Nail Gafarov 17, Yuriv Kistanov 13) (HT: 52-34).

Group C: Lebanon 83 (Mazen Mneimneh 29, Nadim Souaid 15, Joseph Jawad 8) bt Philippines 63 (Jervy Cruz 27, Andrian Celada 13, Diogenes Villame 7) (HT: 49-28).

Korea 119 (Sung Hoon Park 19, Chang Mui Lee 13, Sung Ho Yoo 11) bt Kuwait 62 (Abdul Aziz Barjas 14, Saleh Al Mezeed 6, Hamad Al Majid 6)(Ht: 51-40).

Group D: India 67 (Talwinderjit Singh 27, Sanjay 20, Bijobi Vakkachan 15) bt Yemen 65 (Adel Bourji 16, Badr Mastor 13, Samer Al Asbha 13, Salah Al Hanbasi 10) (HT: 34-35).

Hong Kong China 94 (Chan Cheung Man 24, Lian Min Hung 15, So Yi Chun 14, Szeto Wai Kit 9) bt Qatar 51 (Omar Marzouq 16,Majid Mohd 14, Saif Nassar 8, Bandar Jassim 8) (HT: 39-29).

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