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JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) - Saudi Arabia along with India booked the ticket to the  Asia Cup  2021  which will be held on July 2022 in Jakarta  Indonesia 

Playing in front of a rowdy crowd in Jeddah once again, Saudi Arabia  after defeating India 80-61  today secures the 1st Spot  as they beat Palestine with the score  96-72 India on Saturday  defeated  Palestine   79-77 to take the second Spot

Todays match Saudi took the lead from the start and never looked back in this contest. The lead ballooned to as much as 37 points near the end of the third quarter, assuring that the home team were safe from a comeback rally and played the last quarter leisurely .Five players were on   double-digits for Saudi Arabia led by Mohammed Almarwani who had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Fahad Belal was also impressive with 12 points and 8 assists to his name for Palestine   dynamic duo of Sani Sakakini (20 points, 12 rebounds) and Kyndall Dykes (22 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists).

On Saturday  India after failing to complete the comeback against Saudi Arabia on Friday ,  redeem themselves through Amriythpal, Amjoth and Joginder to make a come-from-behind victory over Palestine with the score 79-77  

Palestine started the game on fire as they jumped out to a 25-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. Kyndall Dykes polish Professional League Player with 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists lead 25-13 in the first quarter

The next two quarters India leads 23-21 and 16-15 keeping game continued favour of   Palestine’s which one time gone up to  14 points, but cut it down to only 9 before the start of the fourth quarter.

India then proceeded to mount their comeback rally with a 13-2 run in the middle of the final quarter, sparked once again by the sharpshooting of 33-year-old Joginder Singh which makes the 67-67  allowing India to have a come back in the game and the free throw from Amritpal Singh put India  to claim their first lead ever in this game with two free-throws by and never looked back.

Amritpal  came up for India with 30 points on 12-19 shooting and 12 rebounds, while Amjyot Singh had 23 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists while Joginder Singh  boosted India back in the game with 12 points on 4 three-pointers

Also to mention in the match was young Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon who also had a good performance for India with 7.2 pts avg 1.7 rebounds and 1,5 assists  and captain vishesh who had lead assist tally today with 7 and averaging 9 points

In the dying minute Palestine tried to stay in the game with three-pointers from Ahmed Haroon and Dykes, but a missed layup in the final seconds by Sani Sakakini (22 points, 14 rebounds) left them just shy of pushing the game to overtime.

Wishing  Pranav Prince an speedy recovery

Pranav prince was the Youngest one in the Team but was unlucky has he got fractured his hand in the match against Saudi Arabia and ruled out of the tournament and he has  gone A an Surgery, we wish him an speedy recovery and  “I’m sure he’ll be up to his old tricks again in no time!”

Detailed scores

• Saudi Arabia – 96(Mohammed ALMARWANI 17  Nassir Abo Jalas 15, Mohammed Alsuwailem 12,  Fahad Bela 12,  Mathna Almarwani 12) bt Palestine-72(Kyndall Dykes22, Sani Sakakini 20) (27-15,32-14,25-22,12-21)
• India-79(Amritpal Singh30,Amyjotsing23,Joginder Singh12) bt Palestine – 77(Kyndall K K Dykes 32  Sani Sakakini 22)  (13-25,23-21 ,16-15 ,27-16)