Chengdu (China), Oct 24 (IANS): The Indian men’s basketball team won both their qualifying matches and entered the quarter-finals at the 3x3 PREMIER.EXE World Games here on Saturday.
The squad, comprising of guards Akilan Pari and Vinay Kaushik, and forwards Arvind Arumugam and Gurvinder Singh Gill, beat Korea Jeonju and Japan Dreams in Pool C.
Competing at Ito Yokado (Gaoxin Mall), India’s first game was against Korea Jeonju, which they won comfortably 20-11. With a small break in between games, India geared up for their second game against Japan Dreams.
Using the size of their forwards Gurvinder and Arvind to their advantage, India cruised to their second victory of the tournament against Japan Dreams .
“It was competitive. We took some time to get settled in the first match but we ended up winning comfortably. In the second game, our taller players played well against a good Japanese side to lead us to the victory," guard Akilan Pari said in a release.
India have now qualified for the knockout stages. They will play in the quarter-final to be held on Sunday.