Chennai, Sep 22 (Inditop.com) Japan snuffed out India 108-58 to confirm their progress to the semifinals of the 23rd Asian Basketball Championship for women here Tuesday.
Japan, with three victories, along with Chinese-Taipei who earlier overcame Thailand 76-66 for their second win, joined defending champions Korea and China in the semifinals.
The two unbeaten teams, Korea and China, face off later Tuesday night to decide the top two spots in the Level-I league.
For India, it was yet another disastrous outing and finished their league engagements losing all their five matches to end up sixth and last in Level-I, behind Thailand who lost four and scored a lone win against India.
In the play-off matches, the winners of which will gain spots in Level-II for the next championship, India face Malaysia while Thailand take on Lebanon.
Yet again, it was skipper Geetu Anna Jose who averted a total annihilation as she single-handedly took the fight to the Japanese. She emerged the highest scorer in the game with a tally of 30.
India kept pace with Japan initially as the two went into the second quarter with the hosts trailing by just one point (20-21). On resumption, India even led 26-25 before a three-pointer from Yoshi Sakurada triggered a Japanese resurgence.
Japan then seized the initiative and outplayed India to jump to a 55-31 lead at half-time. Thus, the second quarter virtually sealed India’s fate.
The trio of Japanese stars, Sakurada, Al Mitani and Kumiko Yamada tore apart the Indian defence while subjecting Jose to close marking.
The Japanese were unstoppable in the third quarter as they consolidated the first-half gains. India fought vainly to reduce the leeway that was growing by the minute.
The Japanese superiority became even more pronounced as the game progressed in the fourth quarter and the Indians all but gave up the fight against their better-organised opponents.
Meanwhile, Malaysia scrambled to a 78-77 win against Uzbekistan to chalk up their fourth win and round off the Level-II league with a 4-1 win-loss record and qualify for the play-offs along with Lebanon who defeated Kazakhstan 83-58.
Malaysia, relegated two years ago, came up with a Houdini act in the final five minutes after trailing 54-70 midway through the fourth quarter.
During the blitz, Malaysia scored mostly through Yong Shin-min who scored six of her game-total of 13 during this period and Goh Beng Fong who knocked in seven while Pee Yann Yann five.
Kazakhstan thus finished third in Level-II, followed by The Philippines who outplayed Sri Lanka 70-55. The Lankans yet again finished at the bottom without a win, behind Uzbekistan.
The results:
Level-I: Japan 108 (Yoshie Sakurada 26, Al Mitani 20, Kumiko Yamada 15) beat India 58 (Geetu Anna Jose 30, Raspreet Sidhu 10, Anitha Pauldurai 7). Ht: 55-31.
Chinese-Taipei 76 (Liu Chin-yi 16) beat Thailand 66 (Juthamas Jantakan 22).
Level-II: Malaysia 78 (Kew Suik-may 18, Yong Shin-min 13, Pee Yann Yann 11) beat Uzbekistan 77 (Irina Polunina 19, Yelena Khusnitdinova 18).
Lebanon 83 (Chantelle Anderson 23, Chada Nasr 13, Sandra Najem 13) beat Kazakhstan 58 (Nataliya Kuzmicheva 15, Nadezhda 14).
The Philippines 70 (Merenciana Arayi 23) beat Sri Lanka 55 (Premila Beruwalage 12, Inoka Juwan Pedige 12).
rounak