AHMEDABAD (India) - China and Iran kept in step with one another in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2026 as they both remained spotless after posting easy victories on Sunday at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium.
The traditional contenders are still knotted at no. 1 in Group C as they hiked their respective records to 2-0, thus making their meeting this Tuesday, August 13, a battle for a direct ticket to the Quarter-Finals.
Teams finishing atop their pools will head straight to the Final 8 set on August 21, with their foes to be determined through the Qualification to Quarter-Finals featuring teams finishing 2nd and 3rd in their groups.
The young Team Dragon opened the tournament's 4th gameday by manhandling Qatar, 118-66, before Team Melli followed suit by dealing Sri Lanka a harsh 110-42 whipping as the two gave out masterclasses.
China opened the game by going on a 13-0 run and never looked back, leaning on yet another well-deployed assault which saw a total of 5 players finish in double figures in the wire-to-wire triumph.
Hao Xuan led the pack with 18 points. Zhang Chunzhi came off the bench and provided 17 points and 6 rebounds, which he laced with 2 steals, 3 steals, and 1 block to submit a full line in the 24 minutes he saw action.
The troika of Zhang Yizhaojie, Zhao Boxin, and Li Junxian added 10 each for the Chinese, who simply had their way all game long - they shot 63.4-percent from the field, had 35 assists, and ruled the boards, 44-25.
Abdulla Mousa was the lone bright spot for the Qataris with 22 points.
Iran, on the other hand, drew commendable performances from a number of players en route to staying perfect. Mohammad Khaledi, for one, led all scorers with 23 points behind an 11-of-15 clip from the floor.
Alireza Rashidi and Soheil Soleimani came through with 15 points apiece, with the former knocking down a quartet of triples. Mohammad Anbouhi and Amir Reza Azari delivered solid double-double performances.
Anbouhi finished with 12 points and 15 assists along with 7 rebounds, just 3 away from becoming the 3rd player to notch a triple-double in the ongoing tournament. Azari tallied 12 as well, on top of 11 rebounds.
Sri Lanka was led by Sudam Lyanage with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Vijan Vidanalage and Liam Thomas chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the SABA representatives, who remained in search of a win.
In fact, Sri Lanka and Qatar are both still looking for their breakthrough win. But only one of them would be able to do so and advance to the Final Phase, as they're bound to fight one another this Tuesday as well.
The winner will clinch the 3rd spot in Group A and will head to the Quarter-Finals' play-in.
FIBA