Court belongs to Afghans after tense basketball tie

Thursday, 23 November, 2006

Top scorer: Afghan captain Yosuof Etemadi makes another run for the basket shadowed by Hong Kong, China's Li Kim Wong

Afghanistan celebrated victory over Hong Kong, China with an emotional lap of honour round the court with their national flag. The physical power and strong defence of the Afghans prevailed as they opened their campaign with a tense and hard-fought 65-57 victory.

The teams had been locked at 50-50 but Afghanistan restricted the Hong Kongers to only seven points in the last 10 minutes as captain Yosuof Etemadi and Nafi Mashriqi top-scored with 16 points each.

Speaking to our courtside reporter after the final buzzer, Afghanistan coach Zabi Zewalt said: “It is a big thing for us, it is the first time after a long time that we have had a basketball team. We are very excited, the kids are very good, and have a bright future.

“As a first time it is a privilege to be here and we are proud of that.”

His team had made a dream start as they scored nine points without reply at the start of the 1st quarter of this Group C preliminary round match at the Basketball Indoor Hall at Sport City in Doha on Thursday 23 November.

The Hong Kongers struck back swiftly however to reduce the deficit to 13-6 with five minutes of the 1st quarter remaining.

But Afghanistan regained their composure in the face of the spirited Hong Kong, China attack to lead 19-14 at the break, with Bilal Azizi racking up six points and celebrating to James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good’ playing over the speaker system.

In the 2nd quarter Abdullah Karimi hit a late 3-pointer to give Afghanistan a slender 34-33 advantage at half time. Hong Kong, China had enjoyed the better of the 2nd quarter, recovering from 19-14 behind to move ahead 25-22 with some swift attacks.

Lee Kiu fung scored 13 points for the Hong Kongers but Afghanistan stayed in touch and reclaimed the lead on the buzzer to boost their confidence.

After the break the match reached fever pitch, with incredible end-to-end basketball seeing the teams locked together at 50-50 with one quarter remaining.

Both sides opened up five-point leads during the 3rd quarter and Hong Kong, China briefly enjoyed a period of dominance when they outscored their opponents 12 to 2.

Afghan captain Etamadi scored 12 points to keep the tense tie in the balance going into the 4th and final quarter, when his side finally wrestled the advantage to win.

Timothy Darling, coach of Hong Kong, China, told our reporter he was pleased with his team’s spirit after the narrow loss.

He said: “We have brought a very young team and our goal was to compete and play hard and smart.

“These kids here have nothing to be ashamed of and they can be proud of their competitiveness.”

Both teams face Syria in their next matches, with Afghanistan playing them on Friday 24 November at 18:30 and Hong Kong, China on Sunday 26 November at 16:30.