Doha (Qatar), (Asian independent) India came up with a memorable performance to beat South Korea 90-80 in a classification match to claim a historic fifth place in the FIBA U16 Asian Championships 2022 on Sunday.
This was the 4th time that these two teams have played against each other in the U16 Asian Championship and the first time that India emerged victorious at the Muilti-purpose Hall at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club.
At 5th, this is also the highest final standing by any Indian team in the U16 Asian Championship, the previous record being 10th place in 2009 and 2011.
India led 30-19 at the end of the first quarter and maintained their advantage by winning the second and the third quarter 15-14 and 20-26. And though Korea won the final quarter 27-19, their efforts were futile as the Indians had done enough in the first three quarters to emerge won by 10 points.
Lokendra Singh (29 points, 20 rebounds), Jaideep Rathore (20 points, 8 assists, 3 steals), Kushal Singh (18 points, 9 rebounds), and Harsh Dagar (19 points, 7 rebounds) were the top performers as India wrapped up a historic run for youth national team. Their solid performances were the key to securing India a sensational win.
Korea’s Ku MingYo continued to shoulder the load of his team and had 17 points on 8-10 shooting from the field to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Philippines finished seventh after beating Iran in the match for the 7th-8th position. They got their win in an exciting fashion, coming from down by as much as 13 points to Iran before winning 95-87.
