The Indian men’s team went down 70-73 against Kazakhstan in their third match of the 2024 FIBA Men’s Pre-Qualifying Olympic Qualifying Tournament here on Monday.
India, who had defeated hosts Syria and Indonesia in their first two matches for four points in this six-team tournament, fought hard in the match before going down to Kazakhstan at the Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena in the Syrian capital.
India were trailing 16-19 at the end of the first quarter and then outscored Kazakhstan 20-18 and were 36-37 at half-time.
India won the third quarter 18-13 to take a 54-50 lead going into the final 10 minutes of the match. Kazakhstan upped the ante in the fourth quarter 16-23 to win the match 73-70.
Arvind Kumar Muthu Krishnan was the top scorer for India with 18 points while Palpreet Singh Brar pulled off 10 rebounds. For Kazakhstan, Vladimir Ivanov scored a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
India now have two matches remaining in the six-team competition against Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
India have five points from three matches while Bahrain have four from two. Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Kazakhstan also have four points from three matches each.
