Qatar basketball team managed to hold on despite a cracking fourth quarter effort from Hong Kong to win their opening Asian Games clash, while an extra time goal by Thailand denied Qatar football team a victory in their men’s Group B match yesterday.
After consistent performances through the first three quarters that Qatar claimed with scores of 27-16, 24-16 and 22-16, Qatar were faced with a resurgent Hong Kong who dunked 32 points in the last 10 minutes as against 17 by eventual winners.
The Qataris held on well to lock the game at 90-80.
Khalid Abdi top-scored for Qatar with 19 points, while Mohamed Hassan pitched in with 17. Mohamed Mohamed and Moustafa Lashin added 15 and 10 points respectively to the Qatari total.
Lau Tsz-lai dunked a match-high 21 points for Hong Kong, including 12 points in the fourth quarter. The other two players who got into double figures for Hong Kong were Tsai Choi-kwan (12) and Szeto Wai-kit (10).
Qatar next play Japan, who lost their opening game to Chinese Taipei yesterday, tomorrow.
Chinese Taipei won the match 70-65 yesterday. Chinese Taipei astoundingly came from behind after having fallen well behind in the first two quarters, thanks to Cheng Yingchung and Liu Cheng who respectively tallied 18 and 14 points.
Japan’s Tenketsu Harimoto bagged 12 points, while Takuya Hashimoto and Takuma Sato each bagged 10 points.
Atsuya Ota scored the game’s first points in the first two minutes of the game. Chinese Taipei temporarily took the lead 7-6 through Hu Longmao’s fast break lay-up.
Japan rallied to beat Chinese Taipei 17-11 in the first quarter. Japan remained strong in the second quarter, leading 37-30.
Chinese Taipei made a comeback in the third quarter after Douglas Creighton scored vital points.
The two teams competed fiercely in the last quarter. The game’s high pressure prompted Ota to pass the basketball to the referee, who donned a black uniform that looked similar to Japan’s jerseys.
At the Pakan Sari Stadium in West Java, Hazem Shehata sent Qatar into a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute.
But after quite a few missed chances from both the sides in both the halves, as the match rolled into extra-time, Supachai Chaided provided the equaliser for Thailand, salvaging a 1-1 draw.
Qatar play Uzbekistan, who beat Bangladesh yesterday, tomorrow.
Uzbekistan beat Bangladesh 3-0 in their Group B clash.
Uzbekistan took the lead in the first half thanks to a header from its skipper Urinboev Zabikhillo.
Uzbekistan, who dominated the game from the early minutes, then added to its advantage with a powerful strike from Khamdamov Dostonbek in the 57th minute from inside the penalty box, while stylish play saw Alibaev Ikromjon score in the 66th minute after a scrimmage inside the penalty box.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh only recorded just two unsuccessful shots in 90 minutes of play.
In a Group C clash, the Chinese soccer team booked a landslide 6-0 victory over Timor Leste in Group C.
China’s six goals against Timor Leste were scored by Zhang Yuning in the 3rd and 47th minutes, Zhang Yuan in the 15th minute, Gao Zhunyi in the 26th minute, Wei Shihao in the 33rd minute and Yao Junsheng in the 36th minute.
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