But the 2.26-meter center is most likely to miss a long-waited clash with star center Ri Myong-hun, 2.35-meter, after DPR Korea lost to Kazakhstan 89-81 in a match of the other quarter-final group.

The Chinese men's team, the defending Asian Games champions, led 77-40 into the fourth quarter and were never challenged on the way to their fourth straight win at the tournament.

"I am satisfied with the way our players played," China's head coach Wang Fei said. "They were trying to play their best."

Yao had 12 points, 6 rebounds as China raced to a 33-10 lead after the first quarter. He finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in just over 20 minutes.

China, who beat Chinese Taipei 113-50 on Wednesday, topped second round Group I with two victories against no defeat and secured semifinal berths for both the Philippines and themselves.

The Philippines also collected two wins in the round-robin quarter-finals but stood behind China due to points disadvantage. Chinese Taipei and Japan, who have both conceded two straight losses, will go to the fifth-eighth play-offs.

DPR Korea squandered a 19-point early lead to swallow their third loss at the Asiad.

Yevgeniy Ovsyannikov made one free throw to make it 88-81 with one minute and 7 seconds remaining, sealing the fourth straight victory for Kazakhstan at the tournament.

"I am happy we have made top four," Kazakhstan head coach Igor Tikhonenko told Xinhua through a translator.

"DPR Korea is a nice team and their No. 15 player (Ri Myong-hun)is dangerous," Tikhonenko said. "But they did not change their tactics the whole match, which made it hard for them to win."

DPR Korea only had theoretical chance to qualify for the semifinals after losing both their second round Group II matches. Kazakhstan led the group with two victories, followed by South Korea (1-0), Hong Kong of China (0-1) and DPR Korea (0-2).

The 2.35-meter Ri had 23 points and 17 rebounds in 39 minutes but could not rescue DPR Korea.

Pak Chon-jong, who led DPR Korea with 30 points, fouled out with 3:13 minutes left when DPR Korea trailing 85-79. Ri made it four-point game with a layup 1:38 from the end but that proved to be DPR Korea's last mark on the score line.

Home favorites South Korea will cruise into the semifinals together with Kazakhstan if they beat lowly Hong Kong of China on Sunday.

In the women's preliminaries, title favorites China overcame a sluggish second half to beat defending Asian Games champions Japan100-87 and Chinese Taipei downed Malaysia 84-60.

( October 6, 2002)