体坛英语新闻：Georgia stay alive in Youth Olympics boys' basketball after early mishap

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Georgia made amends for an embarrassing forfeit to advance to the quarterfinals of the boys' basketball 3x3 tournament at the Youth Olympics here on Saturday.

Georgia handed Slovenia victory by default after arriving late for their preliminary round match on Tuesday.

But they followed that up with a 21-4 win over Jordan in their second game to keep their hopes alive in Group A. On Saturday, they beat Turkmenistan 20-9 and China 15-10 to secure their passage to the knockout rounds.

"We arrived late from the Olympic Village because we thought the game was at 9:30," team member Luka Maziashvili said of the Slovenia clash.

"When we realized what had happened it was a really bad moment and we felt horrible," he added.

Georgia secured second place in the group behind undefeated Slovenia while China missed out on a berth in the last eight with two wins and two losses.

"I'm proud of my teammates, we did a great job and beat a difficult rival," said Georgia's top scorer Otar Pertaia. "If we continue this way we can make it far in the Games. The problem we had with the first game motivated us even more. There was nothing else we could do but win."

Georgia face Group C winner Argentina on Tuesday for a place in the last four.