Maldives men’s basketball team has lost to the Bangladeshi team in the ongoing 13th South Asian Games 2019, being held in Nepal.

During a match held on Friday morning, the Maldives team fell behind with 67 points while Bangladesh took the lead with 78 points.

Maldives took the lead in the first quarter of the match having scored 19 points with Bangladesh trailing behind with nine points. Players showed an exemplary performance during the first quarter with Captain Zilaal having scored seven points for the team.

The Bangladeshi team showed excellent defense play throughout the match, having taken the lead with 34 points to 33, in the second quarter.

However, Maldives resurfaced with better attacks in the third quarter, taking the lead 56 – 50 points.

The fourth and last quarter of the match ended in a tie of 67 – 67, with exceptional performance from both teams.

Due to this, the match saw an extension of five minutes throughout which the Bangladeshi team secured its win, having scored 78 points with Maldives at its tail with 67 points.

Zilaal scored 21 points for the game and Bangladesh’s Captain M.D Khan scored the most for his team.

The men’s team is next scheduled to go head-to-head with Nepal on the morning of 8 December.

Basketball teams from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan are competing in this year’s South Asian Games, being held from 5 – 10 December.