FIBA Asia Cup: India lose to Lebanon, end campaign without a win

Jakarta (Indonesia), July 17 (IANS) The Indian men's basketball team's campaign at the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 came to an end after a crushing 63-104 loss against Lebanon in its final Group D match at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, here on Sunday.The loss meant India finished their outing at the fourth and last position in Group D. Only the top team from each group progressed to the quarter-finals, while the second and third placed nations advanced to the playoffs.This was India's third straight defeat in the competition, having earlier lost to New Zealand (47-100) and the Philippines (59-101).The match against world No 54 Lebanon started off on a dismal note for India as they were down 18-4 within the first four minutes. Ranked 82 in the world, India failed to provide any resistance to the surging Lebanon team and further slumped to 57-23 before half-time.The match ended 104-63 in Lebanon's favour, putting an end to India's dismal campaign at the continental showpiece, an olympics.com report said.Muin Bek Hafeez and Pratyanshu Tomar were the top scorers for India in the match with each of them scoring 11 points. Amritpal Singh was the next best with 10 points. Lebanon, on the other hand, were aided by Yousef Khayat's 15 points and Jonathan Alredge's 14.India's best performance at the FIBA Asia Cup came in 1975 when they finished fourth.

--IANSavn/inj

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