China Crashes South Korea in Asian Championship Final ����Hu Weidong drilled in three 3-pointers in a row down the stretch as China took revenge on South Korea by a 63-45 rout Sunday in the Asian Basketball Championship for Men. ����China, who was upset by South Korea 86-72 in the last version of the tournament two years ago, claimed the only berth to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games allocated in Asia. ����Saudi Arabia became the first West Asian country to win the bronze medal of the bi-annual championship, which was set up in 1960, after outplaying the Chinese Taipei 93-67 in a 3-4 places playoff. ����Hu, awarded the Most Valuable Player of the championship, led China a 12-0 run with 5:16 left to build a 56-40 advantage over South Korea. ����The 29-year-old forward, who was in his fourth appearance of the Asian championships, scored 16 points, while teammate Gong Xiaobin contributed 15 and four rebounds in the game. ����"I didn't blink a while when I made that three baskets, " Hu said. "I knew I had that chance and I was confident of my shots." ����Starting the game slowly, South Korea took a brief lead from Kim Young-man's three-pointer at 15-13 with 7:13 remaining in the first half. ����Point guard Li Xiaoyong answered with three-pointer and began a 12-0 run for China before Li's two free-throws made the mark 25-15 with 2:29 to play at halftime, where China built a 29-21 lead. ����But South Korea stroke back at 44-40 when Li Xiang-min was fouled out before China set off to its late run. ����"We had advantage on strength over the South Koreans, so we just came out and played our best game as much as possible," said China's head coach Jiang Xingquan. ����China beat up South Korea on free throws as Chinese players hit 14-of-16 while South Koreans had no chance to stand behind the line. SportsNews 1999-09-06 Page7 Full Story in Chinese