basketball - Qatar keep hoop dreams alive

Qatar lived on their nerves to cap a memorable sporting night by reaching the semifinals of the men's basketball competition with a nailbiting win over Chinese Taipei.

On more than one occasion Qatar looked to be down and out but following two periods of overtime they eventually prevailed 103-96 to book their place in the last four against IR Iran on Wednesday 13 December.

The hosts, who won four of their five group matches, trailed throughout and needed a nerveless Erfan Ali Saeed to sink two free throws with four seconds remaining to pull the scores level at 81-81.

Chinese Taipei then missed a shot in the final second of the game and had further opportunities in the first period of overtime.

With the scores again locked at 92-92 and with five seconds remaining, Chou Shih Yuan was given two shots from the free throw line that would have sealed victory. He missed both and the Qatari fans courtside breathed again.

Inspired by Saeed, who scored a game-high 27 points, Qatar finally pulled away in the second period of overtime to clinch victory.

"I am so happy," said Qatar captain Yasseen Muosa. "It was a very strong and long match. Chinese Taipei is very fast and strong and we tried to compete with their speed and to stop them. We managed to do that. We were surprised, actually, by how they performed."

Forward Mohammed Seleem Abdulla added: "In the beginning of the match we were overconfident but then we were surprised by the strength of the Chinese Taipei players and their efficiency in their three-point shots from everywhere on the field.

"In the second half we gathered our forces as a team and we managed to win this marathon match."

Tournament favourites China defeated Korea 68-52 in an earlier quarterfinal to avenge their defeat to them in the 2002 Asian Games final.

Yi Jianlian amassed a game-high 18 points and 14 rebounds for China as they leapt into a 41-25 half-time lead. Centre Ha Seung Jin scored 16 points and claimed 16 rebounds for Korea but was unable to stop China booking a semifinal place against Jordan.

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006