Argentina bemoan Ginobili injury in loss

By Gelu Sulugiuc

BEIJING (Reuters) - Argentina bemoaned the loss of top scorer Manu Ginobili in their semi-final loss to the United States in the Olympic men's basketball tournament on Friday.

The tournament's leading scorer with 20.3 points, the San Antonio Spurs guard left the game in the first quarter after twisting an ankle and never returned.

"Manu is our main guy on offence," Argentina forward Carlos Delfino told Reuters. "He's an NBA star like all these guys. They respect him. The refs respect him.

"We tried to make a run but we were missing those 20 or 22 points and his leadership on the court."

The U.S. went on to win 101-81, avenging a loss to Argentina at the same stage of the tournament at the Athens Games four years ago.

"It's not the nicest thing that the best player in the tournament got injured in the semi-final," Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. "For me he was the key player of this tournament."

Ginobili's status for the bronze medal game on Sunday against Lithuania was unclear.

"Manu was going to help a lot as he is a very important player for us," said Argentina power forward Juan Gutierrez Llanas. "Obviously we felt his absence because we lost a very important scoring threat."

American point guard Jason Kidd said he was surprised Ginobili did not return to the game.

"Ginobili is a competitor, he's one of the best players in the world," Kidd said. "He was doing it for his team mates and also for his country. He was there to protect their gold medal." (Additional reporting by Pablo Garibian)