2023-09-30 13:46:53
[Sports Road to Hangzhou]The Hangzhou Asian Games held the last day of the men’s basketball group matches today (30th) at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium and the Zhejiang University (Zijingang Campus) Gymnasium. The Hong Kong team faced China in the final match of Group B and lost 50:95 following a hard fight. In the end, they won one win and two losses in the group. At the same time, Chinese Taipei defeated Mongolia 78:75, allowing Hong Kong to successfully qualify for the top eight qualifying rounds. On October 2, they will compete with Saudi Arabia for the top eight spots.
The Hong Kong team participating in the preliminaries of Group B is currently ranked 119th in the world. Earlier, it lost its qualification due to the cancellation of the qualifying match due to the change of the Asian Games format. Later, it dramatically regained its qualification to compete in Hangzhou due to the withdrawal of the Lebanese men’s basketball team. The Hong Kong team first lost to Chinese Taipei, ranked 78th in the world and fourth in the last Asian Games, 62:81 on Tuesday (26th), and then defeated Chinese Taipei 69:64 on Thursday (28th), which was ranked 19th higher than Hong Kong. Mongolia won its first Asian Games victory in nine years. However, it failed to maintain its strong performance once morest China in the final match of the group today.
The Hong Kong team was at a disadvantage early in the first quarter and was scored 4 goals by China. Later, Xu Yuancheng scored a 3-pointer to recover the score. In the middle of the game, the Hong Kong team made many mistakes and failed to score, falling behind by 9:19. In the end, Yang Ruiqi got a free throw opportunity to score a point for the Hong Kong team, ending the first quarter at 10:19. In the second quarter, the Hong Kong team lost 14 points to China but still failed to score. After replacing many players, Ip Yaobang scored 2 points in the restricted area to break the deadlock. However, the Hong Kong team was still overwhelmed by China’s aggressive offensive power and was intercepted many times, resulting in a 12:45-point deficit at the end of the first half.
Chairman of the Hong Kong Asian Games delegation Fok Qigang (left) and Chinese Basketball Association Chairman Yao Ming (right) were also guests, attracting a large number of spectators to take photos.
After changing sides, the Hong Kong team changed their lineup once more, but failed to reverse the situation. At the beginning of the third quarter, even though Li Qi scored two 3-pointers, the Hong Kong team was still led by a big margin to 18:58. However, despite being at a disadvantage, the Hong Kong team was not discouraged. Not only did they reduce mistakes, they also took the initiative to attack, recovering a total of 21 points and finishing one quarter with 33:68. At the beginning of the last quarter, the Hong Kong team strived to score more goals. First, Liang Jiaxian seized three free throw opportunities and scored 3 points in a row. Then Xu Yuanzheng and Hui Longer each scored a goal and scored 4 points. However, the Hong Kong team made another mistake at the end of the game, and was robbed of the ball many times by China. It lost its dominance and ended at 50:95.
Li Qi (middle)
Because Mongolia lost to Chinese Taipei 75:78 in the final battle and lost all three games in the group, it finished last. Therefore, even if the Hong Kong team lost to China, it might still finish third in the group and qualify for the quarter-finals. It would compete with the second place in Group A. The famous Saudi Arabia competes for the top 8 seats. Li Qi, the “big brother” of the Hong Kong team, lamented following the game: “Everyone knows that we were originally not qualified, but suddenly we were eligible to play. We all had to come to Hangzhou to really start preparations. Before departure, only Qi people had practiced Two lessons, but I didn’t prepare too much. It wasn’t until everyone was in the player village and mightn’t go out that I had time to hold meetings, watch videos, and discuss how to defend. As a result, everyone was able to implement the coach’s tactics, which is a credit to the entire team. .”
Li Qi said that the goal before was always the match once morest Mongolia, but now successfully qualifying is beyond expectations: “Hong Kong has not tried to qualify in the past 20 years, and this year’s team has old, middle and young players. The lineup is very complete and high-level. , twin towers, point guard, outside line, so good. For Hong Kong players, it is very lucky and a rare opportunity to play this game. There are only 3,000 seats in the Hong Kong Xinyi Stadium, and there are more than 10,000 here. These experiences are very good for Young players are very important.” Li Qi also said that the Asian Games will be his last time representing Hong Kong. He said frankly: “I will quit the Hong Kong team following playing in the Asian Games. It is time for young players to take over. In the past, the Hong Kong team had I will compete 90% of the time and miss a lot of time with my family. Now I have two children and I want to spend more time with my family.” They all hope to strive for better results.
Picture: Vincent
Text: Zeng Xiaoying, He Zishan
This article is written by “Sportsroad“Originally published in “【Hangzhou Asian Games．Direct attack]Hong Kong men’s basketball team lost to China’s group but still qualified for the top 8 qualifying rounds」
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