CHN / KOR - China first U16 Champions of Asia

JOHOR BAHRU (FIBA Asia U16 Championship) - China completed their Championship unbeaten - their eighth win from as many games crowning them as the first FIBA Asia U16 Champions.

China led throughout the gold medal on Friday their lead only growing as the game progressed before finishing off Korea with a 104-69 result.

Both China and Korea, however, had already qualified to represent FIBA Asia in the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship to be held in Germany.

Guo Ailun, as he had in all China's previous seven triumphs, led the Chinese assault.

Without doubt one of the more talented players on view Guo scored 12 of his 19 points in the first quarter at the end of which China led 28-21.

Luo Hanchen provided support, even outscoring Guo, accounting for 14 of his 18 in the first quarter.

A 10-0 run early in the second quarter pushed China further ahead and there was no trouble for Fan Bin's boys to reaching their gold medal.

And when Zhu Xuhang slam-dunked to give China a 22-point lead, the writing for Korea was clear on the wall.

Not that Korea did not try, nor was that they were not at their best. It was simply a matter of being beaten by a better team.

Korea can go home with the satisfaction of the fact that both their losses in the Championship came against much superior Chinese outfit - China had beaten Korea 121-51 in the Group I Quarterfinal Round.

Scores

Final

China 104 (Zhai Xiaochuan 20, Guo Ailun 19, Luo Hanchen 18, Ju Mingxin 17, Zhu Xuhang 15) bt Korea 69 (Changjin Choi 20, Dongyeop Lee 14). Quarterwise Scores: 28-21, 51-41, 75-60

FOR FIFTH PLACE

Chinese Taipei 71 (Yang Hsing-chih 20, Kao Po-yu 19, Chen Ying-chun 15, Wang Jen-chieh 10) bt Japan 66 (Ryo Tawatari 18, Tsukasa 13, Taiki Uehara 10). Quarterwise Scores: 17-10, 37-18, 57-43.

FOR 7TH PLACE

Syria 87 (Aghyad Rahal 26, Mohamed Beirakdar 20, Muhammad Otabachi 14, Mahmmoud Trub 13) bt Jordan 51 (Yousef Abuwazneh 18, Yazan Altaweel 10). Quarterwise Scores: 25-16, 48-26, 68-39.

FOR 9TH PLACE

Kazakhstan 59 (Alexander Zhigulin 24, Alimbek Orazov 15, Alexey Kuruchka 10) bt India 49 (Shyam Sunder 19, Ajay Pratap Singh 10). Quarterwise Scores: 15-14, 31-34, 40-39.

FOR 11TH PLACE

Malaysia 83 (Loh Shee Wong 27, Tan Hui Kee 16, Chua Jian Sheng 10) bt Bahrain 73 (Ali Ahmed Jamal 22, Hanafi Subah Husain 21, Abdulla Sayed Ahmed 11). Quarterwise Scores: 19-8, 44-18, 65-39.

FINAL RANKINGS

1. China
2. Korea
3. Iran
4. Philippines
5. Chinese Taipei
6. Japan
7. Syria
8. Jordan
9. Kazakhstan
10. India
11. Malaysia
12. Bahrain
13. Kuwait
14. Singapore
15. Saudi Arabia
16. Thailand

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia