Hong Kong Invitational - Indian men's basketball team cruises into semis

Earlier this afternoon, the Indian senior men’s basketball team beat Thailand to progress to the semifinals of the 21^st Best Mart 360° Super Kung Sheung Cup International Basketball Invitation Championship that is underway in Hong Kong.

The 2-0 Indian team has topped preliminary Group 3 and is through to the knockouts. Tomorrow, i.e. 16^th December is a rest day and at the time of filing this report, India’s semifinal opponent and match timing is still to be confirmed.

India cruise past Thailand 86-65

India has now made a case for itself as one of the tournament’s strongest teams, as it cruised past Thailand 86-65.

It was yet another superlative performance by captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, whose 29 points were spread out over the four quarters, and centre Amritpal Singh who had 18. Shooting guard Pratham Singh came into form and hit double digits with 11 points.

But it was India’s defensive work in the third period that swung the game decisively in its favour. That frame saw Thailand score only 7 points as against India’s 27, to effectively seal its fate. The other three periods were evenly split between the sides. India won the first quarter, Thailand the second, while the fourth was a tie.

India (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 29, Amritpal Singh 18, Pratham Singh 11) bt Thailand (Nakorn Jaisanuk 17, Moses Morgan 13) 86-65[20-12, 13-20, 27-7, 26-26]