China improved its perfect record to 4-0 at the Sanjing 22nd Asian Men's Basketball Championships by demolishing India 117-62 on Friday.

Zhang Jinsong notched a game-high 17 points and Houston Rockets star Yao Ming chalked up his fourth straight double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Chinese blitz.

Liu Wei, Zhu Fangyu, Li Ke and Du Feng also netted double-digit scores, while Toronto Raptors centre Mengke Bateer, still recovering from an upper body injury, nailed 11 points and hauled down six rebounds in 12 minutes playing time.

China, the 12-time Asian champs, got off to a rocky start as the hosts had trouble dealing with India's fast breaks. The score was 14-11 when China called their first time-out, and coach Jiang Xingquan's strategy paid dividends when his team knocked down 14 unanswered points en route to a 33-15 lead after the first quarter.

"Our defence was not good in the beginning, but in the rest of the game we did well on attack and defence," said Jiang.

"India has made great progress in recent years and they have strong power both inside and outside," he said.

India impressed all to romp past Kuwait 94-74 on the first day of the competition only two hours after their late arrival. They then lost to powerhouse South Korea 121-76 before rebounding to beat Malaysia 81-62 and advance to the second round.

"The Koreans have good shooting percentage on the outside, while China has taller players which will make a difference in their game," said the Indian head coach K. K. Chansoria.

To better adjust to the close defence, Jiang tried some new combinations of players and rested Yao and Bateer in the fourth quarter.

"We should test other combinations towards different play styles. We know the following games will become tougher and tougher," Jiang said.

"And I will give more opportunities to young players. They have had good performances at this event."

On Saturday China will face Lebanon, runner-up at the 2001 event and a strong rival. Lebanon is also unbeaten, with wins over Kazakhstan, Uzbekhstan, Hong Kong and Japan in previous matches.

"Lebanon has a good shooting percentage on the outside and we should prepare for that," Jiang said.

The final eight teams were divided into two groups with China, India, Lebanon and Japan in Group One, and South Korea, Kazakhstan, Iran and Qatar in Group Two.

In other action, South Korea outplayed Iran 105-81, Lebanon beat Japan 76-63 and Qatar upset Kazakhstan 83-61.

The top two finishers in each group will advance to the semi-finals and the other four will fight for the fifth to eighth places.

In the competition for the ninth to sixteenth positions, Jordan edged Uzbekhstan 86-83, Chinese Taipei crushed Malaysia 101-63, Hong Kong downed the Philippines 66-58 and Kuwait defeated Syria 80-75.

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