China bounce back at Asian Basketball Championships
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Defending champions China coasted to a 97-36 rout of an error-prone India in their third match in the Level I division of the 25th FIBA Asia Championship for Women at the Thai-Japan Youth Welfare Centre yesterday.
Seven-time champions China, world No 8 and highest ranked in Asia, could ill afford another slip up after suffering a defeat to South Korea in the opening match on Sunday, and the Indians, who had lost both their matches so far, were in for a tough afternoon.
The form book dictated a comfortable win for the Chinese team, who recovered from the opening loss by thrashing Kazakhstan 103-62 on Monday. The Indians, meanwhile, found themselves on the wrong end of the 109-62 hammering by the Koreans, which followed a loss to Taiwan in the opener.
China duly raced to a 17-0 lead, while it took more than half of the first quarter for the 40th-ranked Indians to find the basket. The Chinese height advantage meant they dominated on points in the paint with 60 against India’s 16.
China’s bench also proved far more productive, yielding 60 points to their rivals’ meagre 14, while the Chinese won 33 rebounds compared to India’s 18 and they capitalised on the second chances with 13 points.
In the Level II class, hosts Thailand, world No 43, boosted their chances of securing one of the two promotion play-off spots with a hard-fought 60-56 victory over old rivals Malaysia on Monday to make it two wins from two.
They were due to face Southeast Asian rivals Philippines last night before taking on the 65th-ranked Indonesia, who remain in the hunt for a top-two finish with two wins and one loss from three games so far, in their penultimate group match today at 6pm.
In yesterday’s other match, Malaysia outclassed Hong Kong 73-38 to get their campaign back on track after losing to Thailand the day before.
