AHMEDABAD (India) - China and Iran aced their respective assignments as the competitors from Group C rolled into action in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 on Friday at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium.
The young Team Dragon opened the Group Phase's second gameday by dealing Sri Lanka a harsh welcome through a 103-55 rout, before Team Melli broke away early en route to beating Qatar, 94-69.
Yang Yixuan finished with 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists to lead the Chinese' conquest of the SABA side, who returned to the biennial tilt after 16 years of waiting only to get blasted in their first game.
Former FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup standout Zhang Yizhaojie finished with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Lyu Feiyan made 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists while Xuan Hao added a 10-4-5 line.
Three players did finish in double figures for Sri Lanka led by Liam Thomas' 13, but they simply had no answer to their bigger counterparts, who collected 56 rebounds and dished out a total of 39 assists.
And after that lopsided affair, another one followed when the Iranians crushed the Qataris, in which they wasted no time setting the tone for the rout with a blazing start into the match that stunned their foes.
Iran scored the game's first 10 points before finishing the opening period ahead by 10, and then surged to a 30-point second-quarter production for a 46-29 advantage entering the break, never to let up.
Mohammad Anbouhi starred in the victory with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists, falling just short of replicating the triple-double pulled off by Lebanon's Charbel El Herera last night albeit in a losing effort to Bahrain.
Amir Reza Azari supplied 16 points and 8 rebounds, Mohammad Khaledi made 14 points while Safa Behnia added 13 points off the bench in the win that saw all but one of the 12 players used scored at least 2 points.
Leading Team Qatar was Abdulla Mousa with a game-high 26 points and 5 rebounds. Mohamedsaid Bedri tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Tameem Abuissa and Ameer Hausawi added 12 and 10, respectively.
China and Iran will swap opponents this Sunday, August 15, as they try to go 2-0.
Team China will once again start the gameday with a meeting against Qatar at 10:30 local time, before Iran test the mettle of the Sri Lankans at 13:30. All games will be streamed live via FIBA's YouTube channel.
FIBA