The Indian basketball team stunned favourite and Asian powerhouse China 70-64 in the second round of the FIBA Asia Challenge, held at Tehran (Iran).
China, which had won all three of its matches so far, took a 27-18 lead in the second quarter. India then came alive through the impressive frontcourt of Amjyot Singh and Amritpal Singh. The duo sparked a 13-2 run to help their unit close the half with a 31-29 advantage.
Captain Amritpal (23 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks, three steals) dominated the paint in the third period, but foul trouble soon forced coach Sat Prakash Yadav to take out Amritpal and Amjyot for a brief while.
Veteran guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi took over, and managed the clock perfectly to give India quality possessions. With five minutes left, India held a 60-51 lead, before going to record a repeat of its path-breaking upset over the same team in the 2014 edition of this tournament.
China, ranked 14 in the world, compared to India’s 53, fielded a young squad. Centre Yuchen Zou, who was part of the Rio Olympics squad, competed in this fixture.
Starting forwards Yi Jianlian (Los Angeles Lakers) and Zhou Qi (Houston Rockets) were absent. India is without NBA ‘D’ league centre Satnam Singh.
If India defeats Kazakhstan on Wednesday, it will advance to the quarterfinal round.
The results: India 70 (Amritpal Singh 23, Amjyot Singh 16, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 15) bt China 64 (Jinqiu Hu 19, Tianju He 12).
