Yesterday it became clear that Iran would join Korea as the top teams from men’s group B. Today, the fight for the remaining two slots was settled through the matches. Japan won the first game against Saudi Arabia with the surprisingly clear margin of 36-28. This seemed to put the Saudis in an almost hopeless position. But the next match, Qatar-China, ended with a 25-25 tie, i.e., exactly the result that helped the Saudis into the semifinal.
Group A: JAPAN 8 pts, SAUDI ARABIA 7 pts, Qatar 7 pts, China 6 pts, India 2 pts, Mongolia 0 pts
Group B: KOREA 8 pts, IRAN 6 pts. Bahrain 4 pts, Kuwait 2 pts, Hongkong 0 pts.
On the women’s side, it is becoming obvious that R.O.Korea and Kazakhstan will qualify from one group, while China and Japan so far have lived up their favorite roles in the other group. The only remaining obstacle is for China to defeat D.P.R. Korea tomorrow.
Finally, back to the men’s competition, it should serve as encouragement for the future when India in the final group match, after four straight defeats, were able to crush fellow newcomer Mongolia with 56-22.