Malaysia will play Saudi Arabia again tomorrow for seventh placings in the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) Asia Oceania Championships in Pattaya.
The two teams, which clashed in he finals of the Division Two earlier this week, were beaten by their respective opponents in the playoff for 5-8 placings. Malaysia were beaten 83-34 by China while the Saudis were beaten 76-29 by Thailand.
Malaysia had beaten the Saudi Arabia 64-44 for the Division Two title and will be going into the their placings match brimming with confidence. But the Saudis would be looking to recreate their form in the first three period against Malaysia in the final. The Saudis had gone into the last period leading 42-40, but completely collapsed in the last 10 minutes.
In the match against China, the Malaysians were unable to keep pace with their opponents. The Chinese led 23-6, 41-16, 58-26 in the first three periods before romping home easy winners.
None of the Malaysians managed to reach doubles figures, with Muhamad Khairul Azman top scoring with 8 points while Ahmad Nazri Hamzah and Freday Yei Bing Tan picked up seven points each. In contrast, China’s Lin Yinhai amassed 29 points with Cao Chen getting 21 points while Yan Lei notched up 12 points.
The Malaysians were let down by their poor conversion rate, managing to find the mark only 15 of their 57 attempts, a poor scoring rate of just 26%. China made full use of their opportunities, getting 39 of their 64 attempts at the basket, a 60% conversion rate.
About Post Author
