POSTED BY: Eurobasket News
Mohammad Ashkanani
Kuwait - Uzbekistan 69-64
Kuwait has a joyful first day at FIBA Asia Championship 2009 in China. First appearance and valuable win for Kuwait, despite nice performance by Aleksandr Kozlov (202-F-82), who scored 25 and grabbed 5 rebounds for Uzbekistan. Kuwait now has 1-0 and Uzbekistan 0-1 in Preliminary Group B, where also are placed Iran and Taiwan. Rashed AlRabah (189-F-87) stepped up for the winners collecting 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Mohammad Ashkanani (193-F-84) followed with double-double, 14 pts and 10 boards, while Shayee Saeed (180-G-86) added 12 pts. Ildar Safarov (207-C-85) was behind Kozlov in loss with 16 points and 8 rebounds.
First half was totally leveled. Opening quarter belonged to Kuwait 16-15 and the next one to Uzbekistan with the same numbers, 15-16. Despite Uzbekistan was a better team after the breather it was not enough today. After 30 minutes of the game they had plus 4, but Rashed AlRabah and his teammates managed to stop Uzbekistan on just 10 more points until the end. At the same time they drained 19 for precious 69-64 win.
Tomorrow, Kuwait will meet Taiwan. Uzbekistan will take on powerful Iran. Today Iran outplayed Taiwan 71-67.
Kuwait: Rashed AlRabah 19+5 boards+5 as, Mohammad Ashkanani 14+10 boards, Shayee Saeed 12
Uzbekistan: Aleksandr Kozlov 25+5 boards, Ildar Safarov 16+8 boards
