da23a24128d62310VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRDapproved/thenational/Articles/2011-09-16UAE lose opening Asian Basketball Championships match to Philippinesba23a24128d62310VgnVCM200000e66411ac____<p>UAE opened their campaign in the Asian Basketball Championships with a 40-point defeat to Philippines in Wuhan, China.</p><p>Philippines won all the quarters to complete a 92:52 victory, yet of some consolation to the Emirates would have been the fact they led 5-0 early in the game and Husain Ahmed and Al Hattawi Ali scored 23 points between them. The UAE are back in action on Friday when they play Bahrain in their second Group D clash. China, the hosts, are the other team in their group. </p><p>Meanwhile, in Group B of the 16-team event, referees were forced to halt a match between Qatar and Uzbekistan today, when four of the five Qatari players purposely fouled out in protest of a Fiba ruling.</p><p>The four players committed five personal fouls each within the first six minutes of the match, prompting referees to disqualify them and hand Uzbekistan a 27-12 win.</p><p>According to match rules, referees must halt play if one team cannot field at least two players.</p><p>Ali Fakhroo, the Qatari coach, said the fouls were committed in protest of an International Basketball Federation ruling making five of the team's 11 players ineligible for the championships due to their dual nationality, Xinhua news agency reported.</p><p>Fakhroo said his team would protest in the same way during Friday's match against Iran.</p><p><a href="mailto:sports@thenational.ae">sports@thenational.ae</a></p>11SPORT201109160151492011091519514910010AD201109168995272011091610001514949592ca23a24128d62310VgnVCM200000e66411ac____ba23a24128d62310VgnVCM200000e66411ac____07b82680d7f4b210VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRD