Iran's center Hamed Ehadadi led in several categories on the individual statistics standings after the preliminary round of the men's basketballs though his team went home with a 0-5 record.

Ehadadi, 2.18 meters high, led rebounds by 11.2 on average and had the tournament-most 2.6 blocks per game. The opponents had to commit 7.4 fouls on him per game, which is also the most to an individual player.

Argentina's Manu Ginobili averaged 19.6 points in five matches to lead the scoring standings, followed by Spain's Pau Gasol's 19.4. Houston Rockets' pair Luis Scola of Argentina (19.2) and Yao Ming of China (19.0) took the third and fourth placings respectively.

Ginobili was also ranked second on the assists category with 5.0, behind 5.4 from the leader Sarunas Jasikevicius of Lithuania.

Spain's teenager sensation Ricky Rubio was tied with Russia top star Andrey Kirilenko on steals by 2.6 per game. Americans LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade followed on the third placings by2.4 steals.

Wade proved to be the most steady attacking force from the American team as he had the highest field goal percentage of 72.1% (31-out-of-43), while Zoran Planinic of Croatia was more accurate on 3-pointer by 66.7 per cent (8-out-of-12).

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)