Thailand defeat Kazakhstan to win promotion to the top division
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Thailand won promotion to the top-flight Level I division of the FIBA Asia Championship for Women after notching up a 67-53 play-off victory over misfiring Kazakhstan at the Thai-Japan Youth Welfare Centre yesterday.
As the winners of the Level II division, the home side, who currently are 43rd in the world’s rankings, earned themselves the chance of winning promotion to the top-tier league.
Winning the top spot meant the Thais came up against the 45th-ranked Kazakhs, who finished bottom of the Level I without a win in the group phase.
The Kazakhs’ woeful campaign was defined by their inability to make good use of their physical advantage. The problem surfaced again against the Thais, who were inferior in height.
Despite not as tall as those of Central Asia nation, the hosts players compensated for their physical disadvantage with better teamwork and movement. The home side, who topped the second-tier division with four wins and one loss, also looked sharper than Kazakhstan in terms of scoring, with 41 per cent of field goal percentage compared to Kazakhs’ only 27.
Jatuphat Tangkaravakoon, the Thai team’s manager, promised to reward the Thai girls’ efforts in clinching promotion for first time in a decade with handsome incentive.
In the other promotion/relegation play-off tie earlier on the day, the 40th-ranked India, who finished second from bottom in Level I, retained their top-flight status by defeating Malaysia 74-59.
Jeena Skaria and Anna Jose were the driving forces behind the Indians’ success after the pair combined to score a total of 45 points, while Pin Hui Pang, May Suik Kew and Eugene Chiau Teng Ting were Malaysia’ top scorers with 10 points apiece.
Another key factor to India’s victory was the fact that they out-rebounded the opponents, two places above them in the world’s rankings, with 30 rebounds to the Malaysians’ only 14.
In the semi-final match-ups of the tournament, the 18th-ranked Japan, who emerged as genuine title contenders after winning all five of their group matches, were due to play Taiwan in yesterday’s evening match, while defending champions China faced South Korea in a repeat of previous edition’s final.
Apart from vying for the two spots in today’s final, the quartet was also competing for three berths at the next year’s World Championship in Turkey.
