Asian Basketball Championship: China, Jordan fight for London 2012 today
WUHAN: Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi inspired China to a 56-43 Asian championship semi-final victory over South Korea Saturday, while giant-killing Jordan booked their finals place by seeing off the Philippines.
Yi Jianlian. Courtesy: Getty Images
China and Jordan will vie in Sunday’s final for the right to represent Asia in the 2012 London Olympics, while the silver and bronze medallists in the central Chinese city of Wuhan advance to the Olympic qualifying tournament.
Yi and Wang scored 11 of China’s final 15 points with a range of interior and perimeter shots, while a hustling defence stifled the Korean shooters all night long, thrilling the home court crowd.
“Defensively we were outstanding,” China’s American coach Bob Donewald said. “We were wearing them down… we were getting open shots, but they weren’t. I felt we were in the driver’s seat from the second quarter.”
Washington Wizard Yi scored 17 points in all, while former Dallas Mavericks Wang had 15 including a key three-pointer with three minutes left in the game.
The only bright spot for the losers was the play of point guard Yang Dong-Geun, who scored 17 points on the night.
At stake in Sunday’s final is Asia’s only automatic berth to the 2012 London Olympics, while the silver and bronze medallists will compete in an Olympic qualifying tournament next year.
China have won 14 Asian basketball championships and represented the region at every Olympiad since 1976.
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