The Rumanian National Men's Basketball team met the Chinese team in Peking on the third of this month for a friendly match at the start of their tour of The People's Republic.

Eighteen thousand spectators watched the match, which took place in one of the capital's stadiums.

The opening match of the tour followed a reception on the receding day given by the Chinese Physical Culture and Sports Commission to welcome the Rumanian team. At the banquet, which was held in a friendly atmosphere, Mr. Li Ching Chuan, a leading member of the Commission, and Rumanian team leader Mr. Leon Theoidorescu, toasted the daily improvement in friendly relations between the sportsmen and people of Rumania and The People's Republic of China.

In the first half of the match, the visiting team kept up tactics of screening in a display of good teamwork against the Chinese team's quick, apontaneous scoring. After the score tied for the eighth time at 33-all, the Rumania team switched to a man-to-man system and after a series of fast breaks it led by 41 to 35 at half-time.

In the second half the Chinese team, controlling erratic shooting and strengthening its defence, obtained a lead of 70 to 55 with five minutes to go. The Rumanian team varied its tactics and scored six in a row, but at the end of the match the score was 72 to 69 in favour of the Chinese team.