| By Valerie Chia | |||
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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.
In Fiba 33, a winner is decided when a team is first to reach 33 points. However, the 15-minute alloted time runs out, the team with the most points win.
Yet even as the clock wound down, Iran were far from finished.
Soheil Yousefi netted a three-pointer from a baseline throw-in with a second left.
The Iran bench erupted in joy but Hong Kong referee Andy Cheong disallowed the basket, claiming it violated the game's rules.
The rules state that a throw-in must be passed to a player behind the three-point arc and then to another player inside the arc before a shot can be attempted.
Iranian coach Mehdi Aghajan was livid. He disputed fiercely Cheong's decision, but the referee stood his ground as time expired.
The final score: China 29 Iran 26.
Said team coach Song Xi: 'The boys have what it takes to become future stars of Chinese basketball... We wouldn't have won if not for Weijie. His speed, explosive power, and determination are all hallmarks of a great player.'
But Weijie played down his heroics, saying: 'We did it as a team. We marked the Iranians very closely, so they couldn't cut in to score.'
