FIBA Asia U-16: India lose to Iraq, to play classification game next

Forward Ankit Joshi had his best game of the tournament so far

The Indian U16 boys basketball team has lost to Iraq 69-90 in the 4th FIBA Asia Championship that is underway in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Playing their second straight game preliminary round game in less than 16 hours, the Indians led by Captain P Baladhaneshwar, forward Ankit Joshi and centre Adarsh Jayakumar showed a late fourth quarter surge, but the Iraqis held on to progress to the second round.

India will now play a classification match for 13th-14th position on 2nd November against the winner of Hong Kong vs Bangladesh. The Indian team was scheduled to play a classification match for 13th to 16th positions on 1 November, but has received a bye due to the absence of North Korea (i.e. DPR of Korea) from the competition.

India (P Baladhaneshwar 26 pts, Ankit Joshi 24 pts, Adarsh Jayakumar 10 pts) lost to Iraq (Abdullah Abdullah 39 pts, Ahmed Jasim 12 pts & 16 rbs, Abbas Al-Qarnawi 16) 69-90 [16-25, 20-24, 8-26, 25-15]