Malaysia have opened accounts in the International Wheelchair Basketball (IWBF) Asia-Oceania championships in Pattaya with a 54-41 win over the Philippines.
Playing in Division Two of the championships, the Malaysian side need a top two finish to qualify for the knockout stages against the top six teams in Division One – Thailand, Japan, Australia, China, Korea and Iran.
The Malaysian’s are in Pool B of the Division Two together with the Philippines, Iraq and India, whom they play tomorrow. Pool A comprise of Afghanistan, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Three teams from the knockout stages will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Japan as hosts have already qualified for the Paralympics.
In the match against Philippines, Malaysia led 15-11 in the first quarter and continued to increase their lead to 27-17 inthe second quarter. The thrid quarter saw them making further progress to lead 40-25.
The Filipinos, with Alfie Cabanog topscoring with 16 points, took the fight to the Malaysians but were not able to make the huge deficit.
Muhamad Atib Zakari topscored for the Malaysian side with 18 points while Freday Yei Bing Tan and Muhamad Khairul Azman also reached double digits, bagging 12 and 10 points respectively.
Cabanog was the only Filipino player to hit double digits, with John Rey Escalante and Juanito Mingarine notching up nine and six points respectively.
RESULTS
MEN
Division One: Thailand bt China 66-59; Australia bt Korea 58-46, Japan beat Thailand 64-37; Iran bt China 64-60
Division Two
Pool A: Chinese Taipei bt Afghanistan 61-50; Saudi Arabia bt Indonesia 66-26
Pool B: Malaysia bt Philippines 54-41; Iraq bt India 67-30
WOMEN
Division One: Australia bt Japan 50-33
Division Two: Iran bt Cambodia 40-22, Thailand bt India 59-12
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