Chen Guohao (left) of China goes for bucket against Mongolia in the men's basketball round of classification at the Chengdu Universiade, Aug 2, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

CHENGDU - China on Wednesday took its first victory in men's basketball at the Chengdu Universiade, beating Mongolia 75-71 in the round of classification 9-15.

After suffering narrow defeats against Brazil, Lithuania and Chinese Taipei in the preliminary stage, the Chinese side regained their form in the match against Mongolia.

Zhu Mingzhen and Zhang Ning contributed 17 points apiece, leading China's box score, and Chen Guohao added 15 points and seven rebounds. For Mongolia, Gan-erdene Gantsolmon clinched a team-high 15 points, and Uuganbayar Tumenbayar added 12 points but had six turnovers.

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China's coaching staff celebrate scoring in the men's basketball round of classification at the Chengdu Universiade, Aug 2, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

In other classification 9-15 matches, Chinese Taipei thrashed South Africa 102-64 and Japan smashed Azerbaijan 104-48.

In the upcoming phase of place 9th-12th, Chinese Taipei is set to compete against Poland on August 3 and China will face off against Japan on August 4.

In Wednesday's quarterfinals, Brazil beat Romania 84-66, the United States defeated South Korea 86-68, Argentina nosed out Lithuania 78-75 and the Czech Republic narrowly defeated Finland 68-66.

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The semifinals will see Brazil vs the United States and Argentina vs the Czech Republic.