Reigning champion Canada, Australia and Iran won their third preliminary match in a row, clinching quarterfinal places in men's wheelchair basketball at the Beijing Paralympics on Tuesday.
Canada, defending gold medallists, extended winning streak to three with a 62-52 win over Sweden in a group A preliminary game.
Forward Patrick Anderson paced the Canadians in their victory over the reigning European champion. Anderson scored 15 points, grabbed 19 of his team's 51 rebounds, and tallied one-third of their 18 assists.
Although Sweden had more steals and fewer turnovers than their opponents, Canada hit ten percent more of their field goals and two-point shots than Sweden. Canada, the 2006 world champions, registered 40 points.
Hussein Haidari of Sweden was the game's highest scorer with 22 points, but only one other Swedish player scored over six points.
Germany outclassed South Africa 96-43 for their first win of three preliminaries in group A. Germany's suffocating defence provoked winless South Africa to commit the incredible amount of 45 turnovers.
Forward Passiwan netted 11 of his 21 field goals for Germany, scoring 22 points during his 19 minutes on the floor.
Andre Bienek had 12 points, while Sebastian Wolk and Lars Lehmann scored 11 points apiece for Germany.
Following Germany's loss to Japan on Monday, centre Andre Bienek said they needed to play more aggressive defence. And they did. South Africa had six turnovers provoked by Germany's defensive pressure in the first five minutes as the Europeans went up 12-2.
After that the outcome was never in doubt. The rest of the match was more of the same. Germany took the ball to the paint, where they scored 54 points, and the Africans committed more and more turnovers.
The result of the match showed the biggest margin on the tournament, while Siphamandia Gumbi of South Africa was trying to cheer his teammates by singing "Don't worry, be happy" the famous Bob Marley's song.
Australia thrashed China 79-44 for their third victory. Israel managed their second win after holding off Brazil 73-60. Britain rallied to beat U.S. 54-50 for their second triumph. China, South Africa and Brazil remained winless after three matches and saw little glitter to advance.
Germany will next play unbeaten Iran, while South Africa meet Sweden on a must-win match. Both games will be held at the Indoor National Stadium on Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2008)