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Roundup: Palestine's win over Philippines alerts other giants

Xinhua, September 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Palestine opened their FIBA Asia Championship account with a surprising victory as they beat title-favourite the Philippines 75-73 here on Wednesday, which alerts other champion candidates like host China, defending champion Iran and South Korea.

The Philippines, who lost to Iran in 2013's final in Manila, started the game strong, leading as many as 16 points in the first quarter. But their guard dropped in the second period, which allowed Palestine to return to the match.

The Philippines led by nine with less than five minutes to play. But the first-time Asian Championship participant kept close and finally took the lead in the final period as they went on a 10-0 run in the last two minutes. Andray Blatche's jump shot put the Philippines back in lead at 73-72. But Sani Sakakini answered with an And1 performance to secure Palestine their first-ever victory at Asian Champioonship.

Palestine's big three, who are Sani Sakakini, Jamal Abu Shamala, and Imad Qahwash, all played without one second's rest and put up big scores. Shamala shone brightest for Palestine with a match-high 26 points and 15 rebounds, while brothers Sani and Salim Sakakini added 22 and 10 points respectively. Qahwash added 17.

Former NBA player Blatche paced the Philippines with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but he shot just 7-of-18 from the field.

The Philippines' loss must have alerted the other title-favourites as Iran, South Korea and China all thrashed their opponents.

Host China poured in 26 points of the games's 30 points in a run and just put the result beyond doubt after the first quarter. They beat Singapore 91-42 to top the Group C.

An 86-48 victory gave Iran a comfort start to defend their title as they beat Japan. Iran, who has won three titles in the last four editions of the tournament, outclassed their opponents in every category and were dominant on both ends of the floor.

South Korea put on a shooting clinic to turn back Jordan and won at 87-60. Five South Korean players hit at least once from beyond the arc. Cho Sung-Min and Yang Donggeun each hit five three-pointers and contributed 19 and 17 respectively.

Chinese Taipei lost to Lebanon 87-92. Endi