Iran, China and South Korea impress with unbeaten runs at 2011 Asian Basketball Championship
Iran, China and South Korea are playing tremendously at the 2011 Asian Basketball Championship. These are the only three teams in the tournament who are still to lose and enjoying a successful run after five games each
On Tuesday, China overpowered Jordan 93-60, South Korea defeated the Chinese Taipei 82-61 and Iran crushed Lebanon 76-45.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) star of the Memphis Grizzlies’ Hamed Haddadi played brilliantly and proved wonderful for his national team. Playing for Iran, Haddadi posted 12 points, 12 rebounds and helped his team to
overpower Lebanon. The Grizzlies centre played aggressively up-front and helped the Iranian team with his great defensive abilities. He never let any Lebanese player to shoot freely at the basket while his teammates Samad Bahrami and Hamed Afagh also helped
with their brilliant quick scoring.
Both scored 16 points apiece for Iran. After the game, Iranian point guard Mahdi Kamrany spoke to the media and said, “This was a good game for us, we respect Lebanon, they play a very physical game, this will help us in the games
to come.”
Now, Iran will face South Korea in their next encounter on Wednesday 21st September. Later, South Korean coach Hur Jae also commented regarding his teams’ next game against Iran. He said, “Iran is going to be a tough
team, our strategy will depend on whether our injured players can play. We will know their situations better tomorrow.”
South Korean team is also looking in great form. They defeated Chinese Taipei 82-61 on Tuesday and continued their unbeaten run. Though, they fought a tough battle on court but came out victorious in the end.
Chinese Taipei led the game in the first quarter 20-18 but the Korean team did well in the second half and eventually won the game. Korean guard Cho Sung Min posted team high 19 points whereas four Korean players landed double
figures. However, one Korean international Ha Seung-Jin was injured during the game.
Asian basketball powerhouse China also won his fifth consecutive game and defeated the Jordan 93-60. Chinese guard Yi Li had 14 points in the game. He also spoke to the media after the game. He said,
“We made a change of our strategy in the third half; we focused on the defense and made harder attack on the three point line. The result was satisfactory.”
The game was full of thrill where every Chinese player scored and earned great acknowledgment from the spectators. Chinese guard Yi Jianlian posted 16 points and 12 rebounds and remained the highest scorer from China while centre
Wang Zhizhi landed 10 points.
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