Olympic Pre-Qualifiers: Indian basketball team stays unbeaten with win over Indonesia

Muin Hafeez

The Indian men's basketball team maintained its unbeaten run in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023 with a 90-74 win over Indonesia at the Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena in Damascus, Syria on Sunday. With this victory, India joined Bahrain on top of the Olympic pre-qualifiers basketball points table with four points from two matches. India beat Syria 85-74 in their opening match on Saturday. Indonesia's Marques Bolden (211-C-1998, college: Duke) (23 points) and Yudha Saputera (176-PG-1998) (17 points) were the top scorers in the match but none of the other Indonesian players managed to score more than seven points. On the other hand, the Indian basketball players produced an all-round team performance with Muin Hafeez (189-PG-1996) (15 points), Sahaij Sekhon (194-PG-2001) (14 points), Arvind Muthu (187-G-2000) (13 points) and Pranav Prince (198-G-2003) (12 points) doing the heavy lifting. Indonesia, who upset Kazakhstan 91-82 in their first match, raced to a 4-0 lead in the first minute. Indian forward Muin Bek Muin Hafeez made a steal followed by a couple of assists to help India win 10 points on the bounce. India, three places above Indonesia in the FIBA world rankings at world No. 82, did not look back from that point. Arvind Muthu and Pranav Prince got into the act as India went into the second quarter with a healthy nine-point lead. Indonesia reduced the deficit to six points with five minutes to go for the half-time. However, three-pointers from Indian basketball captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (195-G/F-1991) and Arvind Muthu kept Indonesia's comeback at arm's length. India went into the half-time leading 50-35. The third quarter was a cagey affair but the Indian hoopsters managed to hold on to their 15-point lead. Much like in the match against Syria on Saturday, India once again conceded quick points in the fourth quarter. Indonesia brought down India's lead to 10 points with under five minutes to play but Vishesh Bhriguvanshi's all-round game laced with assists and rebounds helped India clinch the game 90-74. Six basketball teams - India, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Syria - are competing in the Asian leg of the Olympic pre-qualifiers basketball tournament for the Paris 2024 Games. India's next match is against world No. 65 Kazakhstan on Monday. Kazakhstan are the top-ranked side in the tournament but lost to Indonesia in the opening match before losing to Bahrain earlier in the day. Only the top team from the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023 table will advance to the final Olympic basketball qualifying tournament scheduled in 2024.
Courtesy of: olympics.com

Tags : MUIN HAFEEZ, OLYMPIC GAMES BASKETBALL