THE unthinkable looked set to happen again at the Asian Youth Games.
China, whose girls were spectacularly upset 32-33 by Japan in the Fiba 33 basketball final yesterday, were again staring at defeat against Iran in the boys' final an hour later.
Just minutes into the second period at Anglican High School, China's boys were down 4-17. They ended the period trailing 11-20.
This prompted an Iranian TV crew member to tell a Singaporean journalist 'you can congratulate me now' as she changed her story angle from Iran's defeat to success.
No one would have blamed her. China had looked lost and beaten, although there was still one final five-minute period. Their defence was muddled and their shooting awful.
But their star player, Li Weijie, 16, had different ideas. True, he had missed a flurry of shots in the first two periods, but he was not about to press the panic button.
'I wasn't anxious as there was still time left to chase Iran's lead,' he said.
He did just that, posting 13 of his 15 points in the final third to pull China back from the brink of an embarrassing double defeat.
He buried two three-pointers, made an exquisite lay-up, and pounced on a rebound to level the score at 26-26 with 17 seconds left to play.
Five seconds from time, Weijie sank three of four free-throws within a two-second period for China to lead 29-26.
