The Indian men’s basketball team’s chances of securing a spot at the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 took a hit after it succumbed to a 53-69 defeat against lower-ranked Qatar in the Group E qualifier match at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
Indian Captain Muin Bek Hafeez top-scored for India with 17 points while Mike Lewis and Tyler James Lee Harris led Qatar’s charts with 17 each.
Despite the game beginning with both teams exchanging a flurry of shots at each end, it took almost two minutes for the first points to be registered, through Qatar’s Mohammed Abbasher’s driving layup.
Backed by the sea of blue in the stands, Hafeez responded with successive three-pointers. The home side kept up the momentum with veteran Amjyot Singh and Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon swishing the ball from behind the three-point line.
However, Qatar slowly got into the groove, scoring eight points on the trot to end the first quarter with a 17-14 lead. India failed to make use of its chances, converting only five of its 15 attempted shots in the first period.
In the second quarter, Pranav Prince scored two quick layups to give the home side the lead. However, it was short-lived as Qatar went on a 10-point scoring spree. Hafeez kept India’s scoreboard ticking, dealing in only three-pointers to draw his side level at 31-31 with less than three minutes to go in the quarter.
Mike Lewis, Qatar’s top-scorer coming into the match, found his rhythm in the closing stages of the half and drained a three with 14 seconds spare to take a five-point lead.
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Things went from bad to worse for India after the break as Qatar blocked the pressure from the booming home crowd to constantly breach India’s defence and take a 15-point advantage, without any reply.
In defence, the Qatari players kept the home side at bay as it futilely took shots from outside the semi-circle, missing eight of its nine three-point attempts in the quarter.
“Our biggest strength is three-point shooting and we struggled tonight,” Indian coach Scott Flemming said during the post match press conference
“That’s the way we can beat teams that are more athletic than us. The other thing, we knew we were going to be at a disadvantage if we didn’t rebound the ball. So, those were the two biggest things,” he added.
Just like in the first quarter, it was Pranav who took the initiative and sparked life into the contest, scoring two swift baskets. Despite that, Qatar kept its foot on the pedal and had a healthy 11-point lead ahead of the fourth quarter.
Hafeez started the fourth quarter by making a jump shot much to the excitement of the fans but Qatar kept responding with a shot-for-shot to see the game through and get its first win of the campaign.
India sits bottom of its qualifying group with three losses in three and will face higher-ranked Kazakhstan on November 25 while Qatar will travel home to host Iran on the same day.
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