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Basketball 5 x 5 event started at the Asian Games 2018 from 14th August and will continue 1st September 2018. There were a total of 13 teams competing at the games in the Men's section as Palestine and UAE withdrew at the last moment. The teams were divided into 4 groups. Iran are the favourites to win the Gold medal and are looking to avenge their defeat to South Korea in the 2014 edition.
The teams have been divided into the following groups
Group A: South Korea (33), Thailand (102), Indonesia (103) and Mongolia.
Group B: Iran (25) and Syria (87).
Group C: Japan (49), Chinese Taipei (57), Qatar (61) and Hong Kong (79).
Group D: China (29), Philippines (30) and Kazakhstan (68).
The action kick started at the GBK Basketball Hall, Jakarta in Group C. Chinese Taipei created an upset on Day 1 by defeating the mighty Japanese team with the scoreline reading 71 - 65 (11-17, 19-20, 29-16, 12-12). Taipei dominated the third quarter, which turned around the game for them against Japan.
Taipei's Chen Yingchun scored 18 points and Liu Cheng scored 14. For Japan, Harimoto Tenketsu scored 12 points. Taipei did extremely well, collecting 20 offensive rebounds against 9 from Japan. Chinese Taipei had recently lost to Japan 49-87 in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup 2017.
The second match of the day was in Group A with Thailand (102) taking on Mongolia. The seesaw encounter saw Mongolia coming strongly in the final quarter before being pipped by Thailand by a solitary point 87-86 (26-14, 19-29, 23-19, 19-24). Thailand's top scorer was Klahan Pathipan with 18 points. For Mongolia, Tungalag Sanchir scored 25 and Battuvshin Bilguun scored 24 points.
The third match was between Qatar (61) and Hong Kong (79) in Group C. Qatar went on to win the game 90-80 thanks to an amazing final quarter from Hong Kong, where they amassed 32 points (27-16, 24-16, 22-16, 17-32). The top scorers for Qatar were
Abdi Khalid (19) and Mohamed Mohamed Hassan with 17. For Hong Kong, Lau Tsz Lai scored 21 points. Qatar came up with 5 blocks to halt Hong Kong.
The final match of the day saw defending champions South Korea (33) taking on hosts Indonesia (103). As expected South Korea won the game comfortably as the hosts were no match for the defending champions as they won 104-65 (28-18, 25-13, 27-14, 24-20).
Korean Ratliffe Ricardo Preston scored a massive 30 points today. For the hosts Dhyaksa Andakara Prastawa scored 20 points. Korea had 15 steals, 17 offensive rebounds and 31 assists during the game.
The men's event will resume on Thursday, the 16th of August at the 2018 Asian Games after a rest day.
