Asian Games Basketball analysis of teams and players

Even though the withdrawal of Kuwait leaves the Preliminary stage teams at an uneven number of 7, and despite the fact that there are articles suggesting that a change to the format is imminent, there has been no official announcement from the Asian Games to confirm the change.

Asian Games Basketball 2010

Here is the current official schedule for the basketball games, which still has India playing a knockout game against Afghanistan on Nov. 15th:

http://www.gz2010.cn/info/ENG_ENG/ZZ/ZZS158A_BK@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ENG_date=2010-11-13.html

I was able to find some interesting information on the teams participating.

Average Age (Youngest to Oldest)T1. 23.3 IndiaT1. 23.3 Uzbekistan3. 23.5 Hong Kong4. 23.9 Afghanistan5. 24.4 Qatar6. 24.6 China7. 24.7 Iran8. 25 JordanT10. 25.1 PhilippinesT10. 25.1 Chinese Taipei12. 25.9 Turkmenistan13. 26.1 Mongolia14. 26.2 North Korea15. 27.5 South Korea16. 28.8 Japan

Average Weight (Smallest -> Heaviest)1. 161 Uzbekistan2. 181.1 North Korea3. 181.7 MongoliaT5. 183.8 Hong KongT5. 183.8 Philippines7. 186.8 Afghanistan8. 190.5 Jordan9. 192.9 Japan10. 200.2 Chinese Taipei11. 200.8 Turkmenistan12. 203 South Korea13. 212 Iran14. 225.1 ChinaQatar and India weights incomplete/unavailable.

Team Height -(Tallest -> Shortest)1. 6’7 1/2 China2. 6’5 4/15 Iran3. 6’4 5/6 Jordan4. 6’4 6/13 KoreaT5. 6’4 1/3 TurkmenistanT5. 6’4 1/3 Philippines7. 6’3 1/4 Japan8. 6’3 1/13 Chinese Taipei9. 6’2 9/13 India

10. 6’1 11/12 Mongolia

11. 6’1 3/4 Afghanistan

12. 6’1 5/12 North Korea13. 6’1 1/4 Hong Kong14. 5’11 3/4 Uzbekistan

Youngest Players (yrs,mon, day)1. 18, Dishant Vipul Shah, India2. 18, Denis Timofeev, Uzbekistan3. 18, Mohammed Fakhirah, Qatar9 players at 19 years of age

Oldest Players (yrs, mon, days1. 37, Asi Taulava, Philippines2. 36, Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, Mongolia3. 35, Kenta Hirose, Japan4. 34, Kim Sung-Chul, South Korea5. 33, Baterdene Dambaa, Mongolia2 others at 33 years of age

Lightest Players1. 141, Heung Chun Keung Mike, Hong KongT2. 143, Marcio Lassiter, PhilippinesT2. 143, Baterdene Dambaa, Mongolia3. 150, Liang Man Hung, Hong Kong

Heaviest Players1. 309, Tang Zhengdong, China2. 282, Ha Seung-Jin, South Korea3. 278, Asghar Kardoustpoustinsaraei, IranT4. 265, Hamed Ehadadi, IranT4. 265, Jaber Rouzbahani, Iran

Shortest Players1. 5’7, Fahad Almuneer, Kuwait2. 5’7, Baterdene Dambaa, Mongolia3. 5’7, Kirill Gusev, Uzbekistan3 tied at 5’8

Tallest Players1. 7’4, Jaber Rouzbahani, Iran2. 7’3, Ha Seung-Jin, South Korea3. 7’2, Zhang Zhaoxu, China4. 7’1, Hamed Ehadadi, IranT5. 7’0, Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, MongoliaT5. 7’0, Tang Zhengdong, China

China has three players at 6′ 11″ and above, including Wang Zhizhi who was the first Chinese player to make the NBA, for the Dallas Mavericks. Uzbekistan actually has an average team height of under 6 foot tall.

India is tied with Uzbek as the youngest overall team in the tournament.

India’s training games have included a 92-67 win over IOB Chennai, a south India semi pro team. Reportedly, Nath Robinson participated in the game for IOB Chennai, but declined an opportunity to try out for the national team.

India fans wondering why TJ Sahi isn’t on the roster, the most likely reason is injury. Coach Harris has expressed frustration with having three potential starters out with injury. One example of the obstacles Coach Harris faces in taking over the Indian team, was illustrated when a player suffered a sprained ankle in practice. The team trainer ran out of tape and no ice or compression treatment was provided to the player, as is customary in the USA. Instead the player was simply instructed to not place his weight on the ankle.