Super sub outshines NBA stars

JAK ARTA: China regained the Asian Games men’s basketball title Saturday with a 84-72 win over Iran after a stunning comeback spearheaded by substitute Abudushalamu Abudurexiti.

Iran were leading by 16 points in the second quarter before their coach Mehran Shahintab made a raft of changes, inadvertently allowing the seventime champions back into the match.

China took the lead by early in the third quarter with NBAlinked Abudurexiti, an ethnic Uighur from China’s remote northwest Xinjiang province, coming off the bench to topscore with 20 points.

Houston Rockets centre Zhou Qi also managed 15 points as China pulled clear in the final quarter to the delight of their raucous support.

Iran refused to give up against a star-studded China side also containing Dallas Mavericks forward Ding Yanyuhang.

China needed to resort to some physical defending, with Dong Hanlin conceding an unsportsmanlike foul after grabbing an opponent by the neck.

Hamed Ehdadi was Iran’s star man, and the game’s top-scorer with 27.

But China held Iran off to win a record eighth Asian Games gold, with their previous win coming on home soil in Guangzhou in 2010.

Iran settle for their second consecutive silver in the men’s tournament, four years after finishing runners-up in Incheon to hosts South Korea.

China’s women had earlier secured their own gold medals after defeating the Unified Korea team.