Iran Defeats China to Win Asian Under-20 Tourney

Lei Wang

Iran was crowned at the Asian Under-20 Basketball Championships on Friday, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported, according to www.iranmania.com .

The home team stunned the powerful China as it snatched a 75-50 victory on the court of Azadi Sports Complex in western Tehran.  China had beaten Iran 85-71 in the second round of the tournament, but seemed to be uninterested in this game, having clinched a spot in the 2005 world tournament in Argentina with a semifinal win over South Korea.

Earlier today, Qatar came from behind to defeat South Korea for third place, 67-65.

According to dashayu66 of www.yaomingmania.com/forum/index.php the chinese news agency Sina reported that China beat South Korea yesterday 94-83 and to reach the finals and guarantee a spot in next year's world tournament.  Iran defeated Qatar 57-46 in the other semifinal.

Pryuen of yaomingmania, also translating from a sina.com source, states that Wang Lei  (200-F-86), China's outstanding young perimeter player, has been averaging over 20 points in the tournament.   But the star of the semifinal match was Chen Da Wei (203-F-85) . He had been playing this tournament with a fever, but excelled in the final 5 minutes of this match. South Korea got close, narrowing the Chinese lead to 69-67 with a 3-pointer, after being behind for most of the game.

Then Chen was sent in from the bench and scored 6 consecutive points, and led his team to eventual 11 point margin.  He was the top scorer with 25 points and also grabbed 5 rebounds in 28 minutes of play.