Former NBA player Wang Zhizhi scored a game-high 28 points to lead China to a 59-44 win over the hosts Qatar to regain the Asian Games men's basketball title here on Friday.

Four free throws from Zhu Fangyu and Wang Shipeng with four minutes remaining gave China a 57-43 lead and sealed the victory.

"I am very happy about the result, and the whole tournament is a big success for us," said China head coach Jonas Kazlauskas. "The final match is really on a high level. We played great defense and with Wang (Zhizhi) and other guys' shots we won the game.

"Our opponents made problems for us, they fought to the last minute and last second. That's good." Jonas said.

Qatar, whose best-ever achievement in the previous two Asaid attempts was the ninth in Busan Games 2002, pushed the Asian champions to struggle in the later part of the third quarter by cutting the deficit to just four points before Wang Zhizhi came out to score six points in a row.

"We are proud of ourselves despite the loss," said Qatar head coach Joseph Stiebing III. "China played well today, especially Wang. He showed his top ability here as a former NBA player."

The 27-year-old Wang, who missed the Busan Games in 2002 where China lost to South Korea in the final match, also added six rebounds in 36 minutes.

"I am very happy that we took back what we lost last time in Busan," said the 27-year-old Wang. "We were a little bit nervous at the beginning, but as a whole, we did well in defense and controlled the whole game."

Wang Shipeng, 23, scored all his seven points in the fourth quarter despite of missing two free throws with 20 seconds to go while Zhu Fangyu contributed 10 points.

Yi Jianlian, a prospect NBA player who averaged 17.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in previous games, hit only three of nine two-pointers in the field to score eight, but grabbed 15 rebounds.

"It's not easy for a player with such a figure to defense from the outside," said Kazlauskas referring to Yi's preformance. "I think he has already been better than some of the guys who are playing there (NBA)."

Omar Abdelkader Salem led the hosts in scoring at 16 points.

Editor: Donald