India beat Syria 85-74 to begin 2024 Olympics qualifiers with a bang — Highlights
India's men's basketball team began their quest to reach the 2024 Paris Olympics in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023 by beating hosts Syria.
India stunned Syria in the opening match, beat Indonesia, but then narrowly lost to Kazakshtan before this trouncing from Saudi Arabia. With 2 wins and 2 losses, India cannot overtake top-placed Bahrain now. (BFI)
The Indian men’s basketball team, ranked 82nd in the world, began their quest to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics by beating hosts Syria 85-74 in the first match of the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023 on Saturday. Pranav Prince and Sahaij Sekhon were the two leading scores for India.
Basketball Olympics Qualifiers LIVE: India vs Indonesia
The team that finishes on top of the table in the Asian leg of the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament will advance to the final FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament scheduled in 2024. Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are the other teams in the Asian zone. India will next face Indonesia on Sunday night.
As it happened:
A commanding win to start the Olympics qualifying campaign for India. They next face Indonesia tomorrow, and a win could ignite some big dreams. Only 1 of the 6 Asian teams go through to the next round of qualifiers next year though, so there's a long road to go still.
Scoring: Syria won the 2nd and 4th quarters, but Pranav Prince's domination in Q1, where he scored 11 points as India raced to a 31-16 lead, was always going to be hard to turn around.
A foul gives India some breathing space and the Syrian defence a lot of frustration. Just as it looked a comeback was happening, India manage to pull ahead again.
For the final 2 minutes, India send out their speediest attackers as they look to hurt on the counter-attack. India have finally adapted to the change in momentum of this match. Another foul won gives another set of free points. India can now smell the win.
Prince is blocked as he tries to basket with one hand. And Syria score in the counter-attack. Suddenly, Damascus believes. The lead is down to 7 points. Unbelievable comeback!
Suddenly, nothing going right for India in these final tense minutes. A few balls lost in attack as they look flustered for the first time in the match.
Syria bring back the deficit to 10 points. Tense, tense times!
The crowd has found its voice as the match nears its end. India's lead has reduced by a lot but is still in double digits. Can India hold on? 7 minutes remain.
Pranav tries a behind the head basket as the hooter goes for the end of Q3. Shows how confident the Indian team is today.
Out for the final 10 minutes.
India start missing a few shots. And a few fouls from the Indian defence also gives Syria a couple of free points. Still a huge lead for the visitors as Sekhon lunges to make a great block.
India attack relentlessly! The lead goes into the 20s. The atmosphere in the Syrian-filled stadium has gone completely silence. Like Indian crowds at the fall of Sachin's wicket in the 90s.
Matic tells his boys to hold on to this lead.
Second half begins. And it's captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi who gives the clarion call in this half with a 3-pointer! The Syrian crowd may be vociferous, but the real battle is being fought on the court by the Indian attackers.
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