2018 Asian Games Recap: August 14th
Four days before the formal opening, the 2018 Asian Games saw its first basketball action, as men's Groups A and C tipped off in Jakarta. The road to basketball gold is one of the longest in the games, and these first four match-ups were the very first stop.
South Korea take on Indonesia at the 2018 Asian Games. Picture: asiangames2018.id
Japan were leading by seven at half time, but Chinese Taipei turned it around in the third quarter and then led by four. With better ball control at the end, as well as scoring more second chance points and seeing a game-high 18 points from Chen Yingchun, Chinese Taipei held on to take a crucial opening victory against one of Asia’ top teams. The final score here, 71-65.
A back and forth game between Thailand and Mongolia came to a tense and unpredictable end, where it took only one point to separate the two. Sanchir Tungalag and Bilguun Battuvshin had 49 of Mongolia’s points between them, but Thailand worked well as a team and a better show from their shooters saw them victorious the game's tense conclusion by 87 points to 86.
Out-rebounding Hong Kong and out-playing their defence, Qatar were in control in their opening game of the tournament. With a game-high 21 points from Lau Tsz Lai, Hong Kong outscored their opponents 32-17 in the final quarter in an attempt to steal the game at the end, but the scoring trio of Khalid Abdi, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed and Mohd Mohammed would help see out victory for Qatar, and by ten points.
The current and previous Asian Games hosts met up in the last game of the day, but Indonesia could not find the home court advantage, as South Korea dominated on the offensive end. Ricardo Ratliffe led all scorers with 30 points, one of six Korean players to score in double figures. Small consolation for the hosts was a stand-out performance from Andakara Dhyaksa, who had 20 points, but it was smiles all around for South Korea, who took down the hosts 104-65.
Tomorrow will see the start of the women's event, with plenty more basketball action to come in the Asian Games. More on today's four games and the games as a whole can be found on the official Asian Games 2018 website.
