Jeddah, Aug 7 (IANS) The Indian men’s basketball team suffered its second successive defeat in Group C of the FIBA Asia Cup, losing 69-100 against China here on Thursday. Sahaij Sekhon was the top scorer for India with 14 points, while Mingxuan Hu and Jiayi Zhao led the way for China with 17 points each.
Palpreet Singh Brar scored the first points of the match by sinking a two-pointer to get India on the scoreboard. However, China soon seized control of the action by going on a 12-point run before India looked to fight their way back into the contest and ended the first quarter trailing 29-14. China outscored India once again in the second quarter, extending their lead to 53-31 at half-time, Olympics.com reports.
The 16-time champions, China, pulled away decisively in the final two quarters, sealing a commanding victory over India to remain unbeaten in Group C, having also won their opener against Saudi Arabia.
After Thursday’s loss, which is India’s fifth defeat in as many basketball meetings against China, the Indian men will play the hosts and world No. 65 Saudi Arabia next in their final group game on Saturday. A loss to Saudi Arabia would see India knocked out of the FIBA Asia Cup.
Group winners advance directly to the quarterfinals, while second and third-placed teams play a qualifying round to decide the remaining quarterfinal spots.
India have been a regular presence at the FIBA Asia Cup since its inception in 1960, missing only four of the 31 editions. Their best finish came in 1975, when they placed fourth in Bangkok. However, they have struggled in recent editions, finishing 14th in Lebanon (2017) and 16th in Indonesia (2022). Their last win at the tournament was back in 2015 in China.
At the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers last November, India stunned higher-ranked Kazakhstan 88-69 in Chennai. It was their first win over the Kazakhs in 27 years.
Pranav Prince, who scored 17 points in that game, is part of the Indian squad travelling to Jeddah with Muin Bek Hafeez as captain. The team, coached by Scott Flemming, went on to secure qualification with wins over Bahrain (81-77) and Iraq (97-77) earlier this year.
–IANS
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