DOHA (Qatar): Hosts Qatar went down fighting 73 -67 to neighbours Saudi Arabia while Iran suffered a shocking 77-70 loss to Syria in the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers on Monday.
At the Gharafa Indoor Hall, in the second match of the day, the hosts took an early lead going into the first quarter break leading at 21-17 against Saudi Arabia.
The close tussle for supremacy continued in the second quarter with the scores tied at 37-all as Saudi Arabia tried to claw back.
In the third quarter, Saudi Arabia took matters in their hands and went into the last quarter with a three-point lead cushion against their name.
In the final quarter which was evenly contested, Saudi Arabia kept their nerve and scored at crucial moments to win the tie, their first win in Qatar.
In the opening match, Saudi Arabia had lost to Iran while Qatar had defeated Syria.
Babacar Dieng top scored 12 points for Qatar while Mbustafa Fouda and Abdelrahman Abdelhaleem netted 10 points each.
For Saudi Arabia, Khalid M Abdel Gabor (15), Mohammed Aisuwallen (14) and Mohammed Almarwani (13) were the main scorers.
In the first match of the day, Iran which had scored a runaway 94-48 in their last meeting in February last year, succumbed to a stunning lost in the Group E matches.
George Earl Kell III played a key part for Syria, scoring 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Mohammad Jamshidi scored 13 points for Iran.
Iran began their Qatar campaign with a 71-64 win over Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
There are 24 teams competing in the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers. The top two teams in each group will qualify directly to Asia Cup 2021. The six last-placed teams in each group will be eliminated.
