June 15, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1429

MADRID, June 14: Belarus stunned Brazil 86-79 to join Latvia, Spain and Czech Republic at the Beijing Olympics after quarter-final victories in the women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid on Friday.

Natallia Marchanka and Anastasiya Verameyenka top scored for Belarus with 21 and 19 points, respectively, after winning through in overtime against the 2004 Olympics’ fourth-placed finishers.

Belarus levelled the game at 72-72 in a dramatic finale to normal time, but ran away with it 14-7 in the extra period to reach the Olympics for the first time.

By then Brazil had lost captain Iziane Castro Marques who refused to enter the second half after an argument with coach Paulo Bassul at the interval.

“As a leader I have to make difficult decisions. She didn’t just say no to me, but to the group and the country. I don’t know about the future,” Bassul told reporters.

Latvia crushed Angola 84-26 to make the Olympics for the first time, after going on a 17-point scoring run without reply in the second quarter.

However, the win came at a cost as experienced forward Ieva Tare dislocated her elbow early in the second half.

Earlier, Czech Republic and Spain booked their places with relatively straight-forward wins.

The Czechs, who beat Spain in the fifth-place play-off game in Athens in 2004, had to overturn a 10-point deficit early on before overcoming Japan 76-64.

Forward Eva Viteckova and shooting guard Hana Machova led the way notching 26 and 19 points respectively.

Spain, the European championship silver medallists, were led to an 82-68 victory over Cuba by Elisa Aguilar.

The veteran point guard sank a game-high 28 points, with 17 coming in the second quarter, and was ably supported by Amaya Valdemoro who weighed in with 18.

The four quarter-final winners qualify directly, while the four losers play off in semi-finals on Saturday when Cuba will play Japan, and Angola will take on Brazil.

The winners will meet in the final on Sunday to play-off for the fifth and final qualification slot.

Qualifiers join hosts China, world champions Australia, gold medal holders USA, Mali, Korea, Russia, and New Zealand for the Olympics in August. —Reuters