JEDDAH, 11 April 2005 — Saudi Arabia continued their winning streak in basketball competition of the first Islamic Solidarity Games beating Azerbaijan 65-58 yesterday at Prince Muhammad ibn Abdul Aziz Sports City in Madinah.
The victory gave the host team 4 points from two games and the lead in Group C. On Saturday, the Saudis beat Yemen 72-38. Kuwait dealt Yemen a second straight defeat yesterday 104-94.
Azerbaijan toyed with Somalia 106-29 also on Saturday but ran into a no-nonsense Saudi team yesterday and lost for an even 1-1 record and 2 points.
In Group D, Algeria were simply too strong for Pakistan scoring a 132-44 blowout of a victory. The Pakistanis lost on Saturday against Tunisia 121-39. The Algerians left no one in doubt as to the outcome of the match by taking a 71-22 lead after the first two quarters.
It was Pakistan’s tough luck that the South Asian team were bracketed in what has been described as the iron group that includes such strong African teams as Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
Tunisia went top of Group D with 4 points after beating Libya 75-52 for their second straight victory. Libya won their opener against Tajikistan 111-55 Saturday.
In Group B matches, Iran won easily against Maldives 141-29 and went on top of the group with 4 points in a tie with Morocco, who won against Chad 79-60. Jordan blasted Sudan 96-46 while Syria downed Kyrgyzstan 88-71 in a pair of Group A matches.
