Korea beat Qatar as both progress

Qatar went down to a surprise defeat to Korea while wins for Jordan and IR Iran mean they qualified for the last eight of the men's basketball.

The hosts still finish top of group E after their 87-81 loss to Korea, who join Qatar in the last eight.

Qatar's first defeat of the games was mostly down to one man, Bang Sung Yoon, who scored 42 points with 12 three-pointers. His total was the best individual performance by any player at Doha 2006.

"I think we came into this game a bit relaxed as we were in the first place in the group. I think Korea played really well and number 10 Bang Sung Yoon made all the difference in the game.

"I think this loss is good for us as we can start moving things around and make necessary changes," said Qatar guard Malek Salem Abdulla.

Korea qualify for the quarterfinals as the fourth placed team from group E (along with Qatar, Jordan and IR Iran) and will meet China in the quarterfinals.

Awesome three-point shooting from IR Iran guard Mohammad Samad Nik Khah Bahrami helped his team to a 95-79 win over Syria.

He had a six out of nine record from outside the arc and scored 34 points overall. Syria trailed early on but fought back to be within five points at half-time, but could not turnaround the match and go out of the tournament.

Jordan didn't need to be at their best to easily beat Bahrain 85-44 in a hopelessly one-sided contest. They finish group E in second place and will meet either Japan or Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals. Japan meet Kazakhstan on Sunday 10 December to sort out the final placings in group F.

Earlier, Korea's women's team booked their place in the semifinals with a 101-39 thumping of Thailand.

The line-up for the women's semifinals sees Korea go up against China while Chinese Taipei tackle Japan. Both matches take place at the Basketball Indoor Hall on Monday 11 December.

By 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006