Asian Games basketball enters quarter-final stage
The preliminary round of the 2010 Asian Games basketball tournament came to a close on Monday.
Defending champion China completed its sweep of Group E with a 100-53 demolition of Jordan at the Guangdong Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Guard Zhang Qingpeng erupted for a game-high 31 points to power the Chinese to their fifth victory in as many games. Zhang hit nine treys while Zhou Peng added 20 points for the Chinese, who led 47-15
at half-time. Ali Zaghab led the Jordanians with 19 points.
"I am proud to contribute to winning. The competition begins officially from now on, I hope that we can adjust for the next games since our strongest opponents will be ourselves," Zhang told AFP.
China earlier posted wins over Mongolia (91-46), North Korea (98-62), Uzbekistan (98-62) and South Korea (76-66).
The South Koreans concluded their group campaign with a 115-66 annihilation of Mongolia to finish runner-up to the Chinese with a 4-1 win-loss mark.
Oh Sek-eun and Park Chan-hee both came off the bench to lead the squad with 16 points each. Cho Sung-min added 13 points for the South Koreans.
In the other Group E game, North Korea downed Uzbekistan 81-70 to claim the fourth and final quarter-final berth in the group.
Japan emerged as the top team in Group F following its 85-58 victory over India.
Hiroyuki Kinoshita topscored for the Japanese with 13 points while former Phoenix Suns guard Yuta Tabuse and Ken Takeda added 11 each.
The Japanese finished the group phase with a 4-1 record.
Placing second to Japan is reigning Asian champion Iran, which whipped Qatar 88-46 in its final group assignment. The Philippines finished third in the group after eliminating Chinese Taipei 82-73.
The quarter-final match-ups will pit Group E winner China against Group F fourth placer Qatar and Iran against Jordan. The lower half of the bracket will feature Group F top seed Japan against North Korea
and South Korea versus the Philippines.
In the women's tournament, China ruled Group A with a perfect 3-0 record. Joining them in the semi-finals is South Korea, which posted a 2-1 record. Thailand and India finished third and fourth in the
group to kiss their medal hopes goodbye.
Japan topped Group B after posting wins over Chinese Taipei (69-59) and Maldives (143-19).
China will face Chinese Taipei and Japan will square off with South Korea in the final four.
The men's quarter-finals and women's semi-finals will be played tomorrow.
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