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Host China suffer 7th straight loss at Stankovic Cup

Updated: 2011-08-09 10:46

(Xinhua)

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Host China suffer 7th straight loss at Stankovic Cup

Su Wei (C) of China tries to shot against a Russian player at the Guangzhou leg of 2011 Stankovic Cup in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, Aug 8, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGZHOU - Host China suffers its seventh straight loss at the Stankovic Cup as they are embarrassed by the for-the-Universiade Team Russia 70-45 at the Guangzhou leg on Monday.

China, who suffered a winless record in four matches at Haining leg and continued their bad luck in the first two games against Angola and New Zealand, failed to make a single victory in the absence of top scorer Yi Jianlian against the Russian side.

Russia built a two digit lead early in the first half and enjoyed a 13 points advantage before the half break. They led the game all the way and refused any threat from their opponents, a 25 points gap marked their easy victory.

Russia's Smygin grasped 16 points with an 50 percent shooting from the 3-point line, Zaytsev added 14, totally overwhelming China's Su Wei and Zhang Bo, who combined 20 for the hosts.

"We can't play eight games in nine days, especially when most of our main group players are suffering from injuries," said China's coach Donewald.

Donewald has kept complaining about the injuries which were blamed as the prior excuse of the hosts' losing streak. "Sun Yue and Liu Wei joined our injury team yesterday. This is what I can not accept, because my bottom line is to protect the team," Donewald said.

But this time, he turned to criticize the commercialized matches. "Eight games in nine days, it maybe good to make money, but for the team and for the players, I don't think it is positive," Donewald said.

However, his Russian peer expressed different ideas on the busy matches. "I think the games are very important for our boys, who hadn't practiced much in international contests. So Stankovic Cup could be a very welcoming opportunity for us," said Pashutin.

 

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