Basketball
FIBA Olympic Asia Qualifiers: India lose to Saudi Arabia to end 2024 Olympic hopes — Highlights
India lost their second consecutive match in the Asian Olympic qualifiers, thus being knocked out of contention for a spot in the next round of FIBA qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.
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)
Basketball Olympic Qualifiers: India lost 75-92 to Saudi Arabia in the FIBA Olympic Asia Qualifiers on Wednesday to be knocked out of reckoning for a spot in the next round of qualifiers. India will play one last group match against Bahrain on Thursday.
India started their Olympic qualification campaign with stunning wins over Syria and Indonesia, but have since then lost two consecutive matches to Kazakhstan and now Saudi Arabia. Bahrain, India's last opponents, are the favourites to finish at top spot and qualify from the Asian zone.
As it happened:
Live Updates
- 16 Aug 2023 12:15 PM GMT
IND 8-19 KSA after 8 minutes
A 10-point gap opens up and India take a timeout. They need a change in momentum here with less than 4 minutes left in Q1.
Sandhu now misses an easy collection. India look out of sorts today. No similarity with the team that put up an amazing display against Syria, Indonesia and Kazakhstan. Hafeez misses now for a 2-pointer.
Muthu Krishnan gets a 2-pointer. Phew! first points for India in a long time.
- 16 Aug 2023 12:10 PM GMT
IND 6-13 KSA after 6 minutes
Saudi Arabai now start building a gap. Nothing going right for India as they fall 7 points behind. Bhriguvanshi, Prince all failing to find the basket.
- 16 Aug 2023 12:05 PM GMT
IND 6-6 KSA after 4 minutes
Pranav Prince gets back India on equal terms. Saudi Arabai look dangerous on the attacks still, but India pretty sharp on the counter too.
- 16 Aug 2023 12:02 PM GMT
Match Begins: Saudi Arabia take early lead
Saudi Arabai, the favourites for today, get the early lead. India hit back though. A quickly earned foul gets India on the scoreboard too.
- 16 Aug 2023 11:17 AM GMT
India's odds of qualification
Kazakhstan (65th) are the best-ranked team in the tournament, followed by Saudi Arabia (68), Syria (72), India (82) and Bahrain (84).
India need two wins in their remaining two matches. However, even that might not be enough as Bahrain has a mich higher points difference if India beat Bahrain in their last match with just a few points' lead.
The Indian men's basketball has appeared in the Olympics once, finishing 12th at the Moscow 1980 Games.
- 16 Aug 2023 11:15 AM GMT
India Basketball Squad
Indian basketball team: Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (captain), Muin Bek Hafeez, Arvind Kumar, Harsh Dagar, Prashant Singh Rawat, Pranav Prince, Amjyot Singh, Aravind Annadurai, Palpreet Singh Brar, Amaan Sandhu, Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon, Mirant Bharatbhai Italia.
Head coach: Veselin Matic
- 16 Aug 2023 11:14 AM GMT
India's Match List and Results so far
August 12, Saturday - India beat Syria 85-74
August 13, Sunday - India beat Indonesia 90-74
August 14, Monday - India lost to Kazakhstan 70-73
August 16, Wednesday - Saudi Arabia vs India - 5:30 PM
August 17, Thursday - India vs Bahrain - 5:30 PM
