China’s trip to the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship Glory: Part-1
China won the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship on Monday 26th September after defeating Jordan 70-69 in a thrilling game in Wuhan, China. In doing so, China booked its place in the next summer Olympic Games in London. This
was the 15th FIBA Asian title for China.
China played tremendously throughout the tournament and remained undefeated to clinch the title. But it was more of an achievement than just winning a championship. Qualifying for the Olympics is something more commendable for
any international basketball side. Here is an overview of China’s road to 2011 FIBA Asia glory.
Game-1: China 101- Bahrain 49
China played its first game of 2011 FIBA Asia Championship on September 15th in Wuhan, China against Bahrain and destroyed them in style. The Bahrain international basketball team was coming into this tournament after
14 years but soon caught themselves in a bitter hammering of Chinese team that eventually defeated them 101-49.
Bahrain played comparatively well in the very first quarter of the game when they proved very tough for China. Bahrain never gave any loop holes to China to score freely, but still Chinese team able to sneak through as the first
period ended 20-25 in China’s favour. With only five points’ lead, the Chinese team looked more aggressive in the second quarter and surprised Bahrain with 51-24 score at the end of second quarter.
China’s 19-0 run was beautifully crafted by Wei Liu and Jianlian Yi, who played tremendously and scored some valuable points for their team. Both gathered 15 points apiece.
Though, Bahrain tried to comeback in the third quarter as they restricted China to 77-45 but China did not give any room to Bahrain and took the game away 101-49 in the final period. China’s FangYu Zhu scored 13, Yue Sun added11
and ZhiZhi Wang posted six points.
Abdulla Malabes Bader was the only impressive player from Bahrain who scored team high 17 points.
Game-2: China 75- Philippines 60
China’s next game was against Philippines on 16th September in Day 2 of the 26th FIBA Asia 2011 Championship. The Chinese team again played impressively and defeated the Philippines 75-60 and continued their
unbeaten run in Group A. Previously, just one day ago, China overpowered Bahrain with 101-49.
The hosts looked confident from start of the game and gained early advantage in the first period 13-22. Later in the second quarter, the Chinese basketball team took total control over the game and lead Philippines with 43-21.
China started the second half of the game with huge energy and gave no chance to Philippines in last two quarters and eventually won the game 75-60.
China’s Jianlian Yi scored team high 20 points and 17 rebounds while Yue Sun posted 15 points, and seven rebounds.
On the other hand, Philippines’ Marcus Douthit scored 17 points and 10 rebounds for his team.
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