Basketball: India qualifies for 10th consecutive FIBA Asia Cup after Saudi beats Palestine

India mand to qualify for ir 10th straight FIBA Asia Cup after a 14 point comeback against Palestine and an assist from Saudi Arabia, who beat Palestine to help India through. After suffering an 80-61 defeat to Saudi Arabia on Friday in Group H of FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifying Tournament, India's chances of qualifying to next year's FIBA Asia Cup looked very slim.

India needed to t only win against Palestine but also wanted Saudi to beat m in ir match on Sunday. It all worked out well for Indian team as y became  15th team to book ir ticket to 16-nation FIBA Asia Cup next year by finishing second in Group H.

How game played out

A slow start to game meant that India was playing from behind for most of 40 minutes against Palestine. India was outscored 25-13 in first quarter and trailed by biggest margin in second quarter when Palestine took a 14 point lead. However, Indian men did t give up, and heading into final quarter India kept it close but were still behind by nine and that is when y put ir foot on pedal and outscored Palestine 27-16 to win 79-77.

Amritpal Singh, was India's top scorer with 30 points while also grabbing 12 rebounds. Former NBA G Leaguer Amjyot Singh racked stat sheet with his 23 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists. Joginder Singh was also one of Indians to score in double digits scoring all of his 12 from beyond three-point arc. India went from an 0-of-10 start to kcking down seven of ir final 13 3-point attempts led by Joginder.

Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon was spark off bench yet again and his contribution to match was much more than what his stats read, seven points, two rebounds, and two assists but his impact was shown by his plus-minus of +14, which was second only to Joginder's +15.

Kyndall Dykes, Palestine's starting guard, finished with game-high tallies of 32 points and 10 assists, Sekhon's defence on Dykes - especially in second quarter - played a huge role in India's comeback especially after latter started off with 12 points in first quarter.

full list of 15 teams to have qualified for next year's Asia Cup is as follows - Indonesia, Leban, Bahrain, Philippines, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Kazakhstan.

(Im Credits: @BFI_basketball - Twitter)