India goes down to Qatar in Asia Cup qualifier

India goes down to Qatar in Asia Cup qualifier

Displaying excellent defence in the third and fourth quarters, Qatar outplayed India 69-53 in the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Friday. With the defeat, India’s chances of qualifying for the finals diminished further. India will next take on Kazakhstan here on Monday. On the other hand, Qatar, which scripted its first win three matches, will challenge Iran at home on Monday.

With a nearly-packed stadium, India started well with regular three-pointers from its captain and point guard Muin Bek and in the first two quarters, India ran Qatar close, thanks largely to its skipper. He scored two three-pointers in the first quarter and three more in the second. Forward Pranav Prince played his part scoring quite well, but like Muin Bek, he too, failed in the last two quarters. At half-time, India trailed just by five points (31-36).

India’s head coach Scott Flemming said: “Our strength is three-point shooting. And we struggled tonight from three. We started off well. That’s the way we can beat teams that are more athletic and bigger than us.”

Qatar’s head coach Hakan Demir said his team played a solid defensive game, which was the key to its victory. “This was totally a defensive game and we are happy that we kept the Indian team at 53 points.”

The result: India 53 (Munin Bek 17, Pranav Prince 13) lost to Qatar 69 (James Tyler 17, Mike Lewis 17, Babacar Dieng 13).