China's Liu Wei 5# goes up for a score during the men's quarterfinal match of basketball against South Korea at Doha Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 12, 2006. China won South Korea 68-52. (Xinhua Photo/Luo Gengqian) Photo Gallery >>>

    DOHA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Asian champion China beat defending Asiad champion South Korea 68-52 here on Tuesday to reach the final of the Doha Asian Games men's basketball tournament.

    With the hard-fought victory, the Chinese gained a sweet revenge four years after losing to South Korea 102-100 in an over-time thriller in the final of the Busan Games.

    "I am happy for this game, because it's the first time we played under big pressure at this tournament," said China head coach Jonas Kazlauskas.

    "Generally speaking, we played not bad defense today. You have to play good defense in tough games," he added.

    South Korea was held to 4-for-17 from beyond the arc, compared to 9-for-22 for China.

    South Korea, which surprisingly finished fourth its group with three wins against two losses, went home with its worst result ever at the Asian Games.

    Two days ago, Bang Sung-yoon became the hero of South Korea as he scored 42 points and hit 12 three-pointers to lift his side over Qatar 87-81 in over-time. However, he was unable to make miracle again.

    Less than four minutes into the quarter-final match, Bang, who was not fully recovered from an ankle injury, sustained a minor injury to his foot before taking to the bench and never returned.

    Despite that, South Korea started well against the Chinese, battling for a 10-7 lead and held it to 13-12 before China ran off seven straight points for a 19-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

    Ha Seung-jin, a former NBA player standing at 2.23 meters, played solid inside game to help South Korea stay in the game early in the second quarter, but China concluded the first half with a 13-4 burst for a big cushion at 41-25.

    Trailing 49-37 into the fourth quarter, South Korea cut it to 49-42 through a 5-0 run, only to see Wang Zhizhi score ten consecutive points to make it 59-42 with six minutes remaining.

    Wang, who struggled with foul trouble, finished 4-for-6 from the field to score 16 points in 13 minutes of play for China.

    "Wang fell in foul trouble early, that made it difficult for us," said Kazlauskas.

    NBA prospect Yi Jianlian managed 18 points through 6-for-16 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds for China.

    "Yi played really good today, it's difficult for him because Wang is out," Kazlauskas said. "I am happy with how he fight."

    South Korea was led by Ha, who had 16 points and 16 rebounds in34 minutes.

    Later on Tuesday, Qatar survived a scare before outlasting Chinese Taipei 103-96 in double over-time in the last quarter-final match.

    Trailing 78-72 with less than two minutes remaining in the regular time, Qatar staged a 9-3 run, capped by two free throws from Erfan Ali Saeed, to tie it at 81-all and force the first over-time.

    The hosts were on the verge of elimination again with five seconds left on the clock and the score tied at 92-all. But Chou Shih Yuan missed both shots from the line to see the game into the second over-time, where Yasseen Ismail Musa netted eight of his 15points as Qatar outscored Chinese Taipei 11-4 for the victory.

    "I would like to give credit to our boys. They fought and they never gave up and that's what we have to do to win the championship," said Qatar head coach Joseph Stiebing.

    Saeed finished with game-high 27 points for Qatar and Turki Aliadded 20.

    Iran reached the Asian Games men's basketball semi-finals for the first time in 55 years after holding off Japan 68-64 in the quarter-finals.

    With the game tied at 64-all and 38 seconds left, Samad Nikkhah drove to the basket to score and drew a foul. Nikkhah, who shared team-high 14 points for Iran with Mahdi Kamrany, made one from the line to make it three-point game.

    Shinsuke Kashiwagi had a chance to level the score for Japan, but his three-pointer attempt rimmed out to be rebounded by Iran's center Hamed Ehadadi.

    In Wednesday's semi-finals, China will play Jordan, which eliminated Kazakhstan 99-91 in over-time, while Qatar takes on Iran.