Asian champion China claimed an opening win at the Doha Asian
Games men's basketball tournament, but not as easily as its arch
rival Lebanon did.
The Chinese, the incontestable No. 1 team in Asia, made great
efforts to beat qualifier Kazakhstan 89-77 here on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, Lebanon, who eyed a title clash with China
in the final, routed Uzbekistan 106-70 in another second round
Group B match.
Sun Yue and Yi Jianlian combined for ten points to lead a 10-0
burst that pushed China up to 39-20 before Kazakhstan closed the
first half with a 10-4 run to pull within 48-37.
After a seesaw game in the third quarter, Kazakhstan managed
tocut its deficit to six points early in the fourth. Wang Shipeng
made two three-pointers in a row to make it 78-66 and China held on
for the victory.
Former NBA player Wang Zhizhi led China with 22 points with NBA
prospect Yi Jianlian, who was struggling with foul trouble, adding
14.
Dmitriy Korovnikov finished with 22 points for Kazakhstan.
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2006)