Puerto Rico dumped China out of the Basketball World Cup on Wednesday, as the United States, Serbia, Spain and Luka Doncic’s Slovenia advanced to the second round with perfect records.

Georgia, Brazil and Greece also made it past the group stage, as South Sudan and Cape Verde bowed out after impressive World Cup debuts.

China lost their first two matches and had to beat Puerto Rico in Manila and hope that the other result in the group went their way to stand any chance of progressing.

But they were outclassed from the start, slumping to a 107-89 defeat to tumble out of the tournament.

China still have the chance of a qualifying spot at the Paris Olympics to play for but head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic said his team would “have to be smarter”.

Read the full story on Times of Malta Sport...

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