Kuwait also backs out of Asian Games

MANILA—It seems nobody wants to play the Smart Gilas national team in a knockout game on Nov. 13 opening the Guangzhou Asian Games basketball competition in China. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Noli Eala announced Wednesday that Kuwait, a last-minute replacement for initial Smart Gilas foe Saudi Arabia, had also pulled out of the Nov. 12 to 27 Asiad, leaving only seven teams in the first round and forcing Fiba Asia officials to revise the format. The countries now left in the preliminary round are Mongolia, Hong Kong, Turkmenistan, India, Afghanistan, North Korea and the Philippines. Eala said Fiba Asia Technical Director Col. Lee Kak Kuan had proposed that those teams be divided into two groups that will go through a single-round battle with the top two from each bracket advancing.