India Hoopsters go Down to Iran in FIBA Asia Championship
India, who won the opening match of the FIBA Asia Championship against Malaysia, were outplayed in all but one quarter. India face Japan next.
Despite sporadic fightbacks, India went down to Asian champions Iran 66-88 in a preliminary round game of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, China, on Thursday.
The Indian hoopsters came into the Group A match after a win over Malaysia, in the opener, but could not maintain their winning form as they were outplayed in all but one quarter. Ultimately, the score break-up read 27-11 (Quarter 1), 12-19 (Q2), 24-18 (Q3), 25-18 (Q4) in favour of Iran, who are also ranked 17th in the world.
For India, Amjyot Singh was the star performer as he bagged 26 points, which was also the highest individual score for either side and the second highest individual score so far in the Championship.
"I can't be happy with my performance since we lost. But the positive things was that we played as a team," said Amjyot, after the match.
Two key factors turned the match in Iran's favour. The first was their fabulous opening quarter lead of 27-11, which forced India to play catch-up for the rest of the game.
The second was the fouling out of India's primary centre Amritpal Singh just before half-time. His absence allowed Iran to wrest control. Five Iran players scored in double digits, with Mohammad Hassanzadeh top-scoring with 18 points.
"Definitely, if Amritpal could have stayed in the second half we would have given them a better fight," Amjyot said after the game.
India's third and final preliminary round game will be against Japan on Friday. India have almost certainly qualified for the second round, starting on Sunday, after their win against Malaysia, but they would hope to give better account of themselves against the higher-ranked teams.
Match result: Iran (Mohammad Hassanzadeh 18 pts, Mahdi Kamrani 13) bt India (Amjyot Singh 26 pts, Yadwinder Singh 10 pts) 88-66