China failed to make history yesterday when it stumbled to a lopsided 68-94 defeat to Lithuania in the men's basketball quarterfinals.
Despite a valiant effort by star center Yao Ming, the hosts were no match for superior opponents, who were lethal from outside the arc, with a staggering 13 three-pointers.
Sarunas Jasikevicius scored a game-high 23 points, including five of six three-pointers, while adding six assists for Lithuania.
An exhausted Yao scored 19 points in 33 minutes, but was double- and even triple-teamed by the physical Lithuanians into only eight shot attempts. He made four of them, and scored the other 11 points on free throws.
"We feel very sad," he said. "They put a lot of pressure on us, from inside to outside. We were forced to make difficult shots, and didn't play well."
Lithuanian center Robertas Javtoka revealed said that part of their tactics was to contain Yao by any means necessary.
He said: "We made sure that the big guy was not going to hurt us. We pushed him a lot and didn't let him get inside."
China's Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas was furious at his countrymen's physical play.
He said: "They didn't play basketball, they played rugby. But the referee makes the decisions, not me. We had problems. We were not expecting this type of game."
Yao admitted that his rivals did a good job at marking him.
He said: They really did an excellent job. Best wishes for their semifinals."
Ramunas Siskauskas and Linas Kleiza had 15 points apiece, while Lithuania also profited from 12 steals to score 17 points off turnovers.
They face world champions Spain in the semifinals.