Defending champions Korea finished fifth in the Asian Games basketball tournament following an 87-76 win over Japan at Sport City on Thursday. Korea held a healthy 49-29 lead at half time.

Kazakhstan claimed seventh spot in the men's basketball competition with a comprehensive 100-74 defeat of Chinese Taipei at the Basketball Indoor Hall on Thursday 14 December.

Handball is the sport and the Al-Gharrafa Indoor Hall is the venue to be at on Thursday 14 December as Qatar begin their trilogy of team finals.

China head into tonight's women's basketball final as hot favourites to beat Chinese Taipei and claim their second successive Asian Games title at Basketball Indoor Hall.

As the 15th Asian Games draws towards its conclusion, there are many medals up for grabs on Thursday 14 December as 15 sports come to an end with a selection of mouth-watering finals on a bumper day of competition.

The dream final will now become reality. Gold medal favourites and last year's Asian Championship winners China will play host country Qatar in the men's basketball final on Friday 15 December, after both teams won contrasting semifinal games on Wednesday.

Japan took advantage of a lack-lustre Chinese Taipei to win their 5th-8th place classification match 78-67 in the men's basketball tournament at Sport City on Wednesday. Chinese Taipei lost a thrilling quarterfinal with Qatar the previous evening and were a shadow of the team that had pushed the hosts into overtime.

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.

Reserve Jordanian forward Zaid Abbas helped his team complete an incredible 99-91overtime win against Kazakhstan in the men's quarterfinal at Basketball Indoor Hall. Abbas had played only one minute in regular time before coming on to the court in overtime.

IR Iran reached their first Asian Games men's basketball semifinal in 55 years with a dramatic 68-64 win over Japan at Basketball Indoor Hall on Tuesday. The game was tied at 64-64 with 38 seconds left, when IR Iran's Mohammad Samad Nik Khah Bahrami, the leading scorer in the tournament, broke the deadlock.

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.

In today's basketball, some excellent interceptions, rapid counterattacks and clever blocking gave Chinese Taipei a convincing win over the larger, but slower Lebanese team, with the match ending 86-72 in Chinese Taipei's favour.