JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship): Philippines' surprisingly facile 60-45 win over WABA U16 Championship silver medalists Jordan was the only element of surprise as the semifinal line-up for the inaugural FIBA Asia U16 Championship was finalized on Tuesday.

WABA U16 champions Iran played cat and mouse with fellow West Asians Syria before winning 69-58 and China outgunned Japan 115-65 to remain unbeaten in the Championship en route to finishing on top of their respective Quarterfinal Round groups.

And Korea completed the semifinal line-up, closing down the proceedings for the day with a well-earned 71-39 triumph over another East Asian team Chinese Taipei.

The semifinals will be played on Thursday, after a break on Wednesday, with the winners of those two games earning their place in the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship to be played in Germany in July next year.

FINAL ROUND LINE-UP

Semifinals: China v Philippines
Semifinals: Iran v Korea
Note: The winners of semifinals will qualify for 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship.
5-8 Place: Ch. Taipei v Syria
5-8 Place: Jordan v Japan
For 9th place: India v Kazakhstan
For 11th place: Bahrain v Malaysia
For 13th place: Singapore v Kuwait
For 15th place: Thailand v Saudi Arabia

China overpower Japan, Korea down Taipei

Japan did rather well to run the court hard for the first ten minutes of the game against China.

But only for the first ten minutes as China unleashed a 10-0 run early in the second quarter to take a grip on the proceedings which only got firmer and grew with wanton abundance before they closed it with a 115-65 win.

Japan led 28-27 at the end of the first quarter the first time China had trailed at the end of any period in this Championship.

But the Chinese defense came into its own early in the second quarter and shut Japan almost completely for the rest of the game.

With their place on top of Group II already secure before the start of the game, Iran played hide-and-seek before tightening their approach.

Coach Ghasim Kiani fielded spearhead Soheil Yousefi for 38:29 in the game, and the youngster was the highest scorer in the game, yet again, with 23 points.

Aghyad Rahal with 19 points was the highest scorer for Syria, who had lost to Iran 50-67 in the WABA U16 Championship last month.

Having built a slow and steady lead throughout the first half at the end of which they led by a healthy 31-18 margin, Korea scored the first 19 points of the third quarter to take the game beyond Taipei's reach.

Huiwon scored all his nine points for the game, and Dong Yeop Lee nine of his 14 for the game to lead this run as Korea left Taipei way behind.

Korea led by as many as 35 points at one point in the fourth quarter.

Filipinos' early flurry

Philippines blitzed Jordan early and consolidated as the game progressed to notch a creditable semifinal entry after a gap of 22 years in FIBA Asia official competitions.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Roldan Sara and Von Pessumal opened the scoring for the game. Kiefer Ravena scored four and Jeron Teng five as Philippines scored the first 11 points of the game.

Majdi Al-Ghzawi ended the drought for Jordan with a three-pointer a little before the midway mark in the first quarter, but that early flurry kept Philippines safe for the remainder of the game.

Philippines led by as many as 23 points at one in the fourth quarter before settling for a 15-point triumph.

India take on Kazakhstan for 9th place

Middle Asian nations India and Kazakhstan topped their respective groups in the Classification category of the Quarterfinal Round.

In Group III, India shut out Bahrain after taking time to settle down and won 58-40.

Kazakhstan won their final Group IV game against Saudi Arabia 64-38, but had to wait for Malaysia's 73-53 triumph over Kuwait to be assured of their place on top.

The hosts' win forced a three-way tie for the top place - with Kuwait and Kazakhstan at 2-1 in win-loss - but their margin of victory was sufficient only to finish second in the Group.

Kazakhstan finished with a goal average of 1.104 ahead of Malaysia's 1.031 and Kuwait's 0.875.

Scores

Group I

China 115 (Guo Ailun 34, Zhai Xiaochuan 20, Zhu Xuhang 13, Wang Zirui 13) bt Japan 65 (Ryo Tawatari 29, Taiki Uehara 10). Quarterwise Scores: 27-28, 62-36, 84-52.

Korea 71 (Changjin Choi 16, Dongyeop Lee 14, Seungwook Choi 10) bt Chinese Taipei 39 (Wang Jen-chieh 13). Quarterwise Scores: 14-13, 31-18, 55-27.

Group II

Philippines 60 (Kiefer Ravena 13, Von Pessumal 10, Roldan Sara 10) bt Jordan 45 (Majdi Al-Ghzawi 18, Malek Kanaan 10). Quarterwise Scores: 17-8, 31-18, 48-29.

Iran 69 (Soheil Yousefi 23, Amir Sedighi 18, Mir Fattahi 12) bt Syria 58 (Aghyad Rahal 19, Muhammad Otabachi 15). Quarterwise Scores: 20-18, 31-30, 43-42.

Group III

India 58 (Shyam Sunder 19, Sukhjeet 12, Ankit Panigrahi 10) bt Bahrain 40 (Hanafi Subah Husain 16, Fadhel Mohammed 10). Quarterwise Scores: 9-10, 22-17, 43-29.

Singapore 92 (Jabez Su 27, Delvin Goh 17, Larry Liew 14, Remus Low 13) bt Thailand 52 (Sarun Buranachan 18, Torpong Mattayamanan 13, Loephong Kongtawee 10). Quarterwise Scores: 28-9, 56-23, 76-44.

Group IV

Kazakhstan 64 (Vyacheslav Raguyev 15, Roman Morozov 11, Alimbek Orazov 10, Alexander Zhigulin) bt Saudi Arabia 38 (Ahmed Almukhtar 14). Quarterwise Scores: 15-7, 37-16, 49-29.

Malaysia 73 (Fong Yen yee 30, Loh Shee Wong 14, Tan Hui Kee 11, Ang Vui Hang 10) bt Kuwait 53 (Mashari Abudhom 17, Hussain Shuaib 15. Quarterwise Scores: 14-14, 23-27, 50-36.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia