Indian basketball team fails to turn up, gives Bahrain walkover

Doha, Nov 24 (UNI) It was not an auspicious start for India in the Asian Games as its basketball team failed to turn up to play their opening match against Bahrain at the Indoor Hall at Sport City here late last evening.

India had officially entered its team in the basketball competition but the cagers were nowhere to be seen.

As India were not on court by the 12:00 start time, the referee awarded the match to opponents Bahrain, 20-0.

Bahrain players were individually introduced by the announcer and they took their positions on court prior to tip-off. The referee then blew his whistle to start the match and then immediately blew it again to end the 'match' and shook hands with the Bahraini players.

Later, Bahraini coach Salman Ramadan said that his players were deprived of valuable match practice.

''It will be difficult for us tomorrow when we play Macau, China because the boys are relaxed now and we will have to work hard to get the team up again.

''Macau, China are maybe not as good as India but the Chinese are quick and organised. We have to be ready for them because they will give us a tough game,'' Ramadan added.

However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Bahraini players as the forfeited encounter allowed the players to enjoy a thorough training session afterwards as they acclimatised themselves to court conditions.

After the training session, senior player Ahmed Al Mutawa said, ''We've been scouting India for a month and were looking forward to playing them, but we'll take the win. It was good to practice in the hall, but we would rather have played the game.'' UNI XC HSB AY SSC1026