SAITAMA (Japan), Sept 3: Spain shed their under-achieving reputation and restored sporting pride with a courageous gold medal win over Greece at the world basketball championship on Sunday.

The Spanish basketballers provided long suffering fans with the title they craved after being let down, again, by their soccer team at the World Cup earlier this year.

After an 8-0 run to the gold medal final, Spain's championship hopes appeared to dim when their Memphis Grizzlies NBA All-Star Pau Gasol sustained a broken toe in their semi-final win over Olympic champions Argentina.

But with Gasol on the bench and NBA-bound guard Jose Calderon watching most of the opening half while trainers worked on a tender left knee, Spain responded with gritty effort to win 70-47.

Spain had arrived in Japan riding a nine-game unbeaten streak and tipped as one of the favourites.

But such weighty expectations have often proven too much for the Spanish, whose best previous result was a fourth place in 1982.

Spain's footballers headed into the World Cup on a similar high after a 22-match unbeaten run but exited the tournament in the first knockout round after a 3-1 defeat by eventual finalists France.

Because of their failure to perform on the big stage, the Spanish basketball team had been compared to the soccer squad.

“We dedicated this win to Spain and to our soccer team,” said Jorge Garbajosa, who contributed a game-high 20 points tothe victory.—Reuters