FIBA Asia - Trio book places in second round of Asian Games

DOHA (Asian Games) - Kazakhstan, Syria and Uzbekistan clinched the final three spots in the second round of the Asian Games basketball tournament with victories on Sunday in Qatar.

Rustam Yargaliyev's 19 points paced five players in double-figure scoring as Kazakhstan ran away from Kuwait 102-76 to take Group D honours.

Anton Ponomarev added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Kazakhs, who will next face China on Saturday.

Abdullah Al Sarraf led Kuwait with 19 points but made just three of 14 three-point attempts. Abdulaziz Mohammad chipped in 18 points off the bench.

Syria meanwhile fell behind early but ended up comfortably beating Hong Kong 61-39 to clinch first place in Group C. Mohamad Al Saman had 22 points and Wissam Yakoub added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the winners.

"I wish basketball games were only 20 minutes long," Hong Kong coach Timothy Darling told www.doha-2006.com as his team led by four points at half-time.

"Syria were able to make adjustments which we couldn’t deal with."

Syria will begin their second round play against hosts Qatar.

Uzbekistan also advanced to the second round thanks to a 78-60 victory over Palestine in Group B. Aleksandr Kozlov led the way for the Uzbeks with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

"We could play better. It's not important, but maybe we didn't concentrate enough," admitted Uzbekistan captain Mikhail Shafenkov, whose team faces Lebanon on Saturday.

Iyad Yousef led the Palestinians with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Earlier in the day, Macau were granted a 20-0 forfeit victory over India in Group A. Bahrain had already on Friday clinched first place in the group and moved into the second round, where they face Korea.

The next group stage tips off on Thursday.

PA Sport