Yi Jianlian is doing his best to impress the basketball scouts at the Asian Games.

Sun Yue of China fight for the rebound with a South Korean player during the match.China sailed into men's semifinals at Asian Games with 68-52win over South Korea.[Xinhua]

Yi, who is expected to be available for next year's NBA draft, scored 18 points Tuesday to lead China to a 68-52 win over South Korea.

China moved into a semifinal Wednesday against Jordan, which beat Kazakhstan 99-91. Jordan, with a world ranking of 56, is the surprise team of the tournament.

Iran also advanced, beating Japan 68-64. The Iranians next play Qatar, which needed two overtime periods before beating Taiwan 103-96.

Yi had a relatively "off" night, shooting only 6 for 16 from the floor. But he helped out with 14 rebounds, including 11 on the defensive boards.

China coach Jonas Kazlauskas stressed his team's defensive points.

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"We were pressured and gave up a lot of fouls," said Kazlauskas. "But we played good defense and always in a tough game good defense can help you."

Samad Nikkhah's layup with 15 seconds left broke a tie and helped give Iran its win over Japan. Nikkah and Mahdi Kamrany led Iran with 14 points each, while Hamed Ehadadi and Aidin Bahrami Nikkah added 12 each.

Iran coach Fredrick Onica also said his team's strong play on defense made up for other inconsistencies.

"We gave up some shots and we also had some problems with No. 9 (Takehiko Orimo)," said Onica. "Our big men didn't attack the basket all that well. Sometimes we tend to have breakdowns in rotation and that tends to affect our game. But defense is definitely the key to winning games."

Ryota Sakurai scored 14 points for Japan while Orimo added 13.

Jordan captain Zaid Al Khas hit on 5 of 7 two-pointers and 5 of 8 three-pointers for 30 points to lead all scorers. He was least accurate from the free-throw line _ hitting just 5 of 10.

Rustam Yargaliyev was Kazakhstan's top scorer with 26 points.

Qatar advanced to the final after nearly bowing out in regular time, trailing by three points with a minute left before coming back to tie on two late free throws.

In the second overtime, with the teams tied 92-92, Qatar scored the first seven points before Taiwan scored its first points with just 1:50 left.

Qatar beat Iran 78-61 in the round-robin portion of the tournament