India go down to Taipei

Chinese Taipei rode on the missed opportunities of the hosts to beat India 84-61 in a Level I match of the 23rd FIBA Asian Basketball Championship for women at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Friday.

The Indian girls began on a confident note to notch up an early 16-9 lead with a few minutes remaining for the first quarter. The Chinese Taipei players drew level at 16 all at the stroke of the first quarter and thereafter consolidated their position.

A spate of errors by the Indians, who failed to control the ball, led to the Chinese Taipei girls running away with a spree of baskets to take an unassailable 46-34 lead by the end of the first half.

“We put up a good fight, but failed to convert baskets. We kept missing a number of chances and our ball control also wasn’t up to the mark. We really messed up in the second quarter and missed a number of passes.” Indian captain Geethu Anna Jose told DNA after the match.

In fact, Geethu emerged as the top scorer from both sides having basketed 34 points. Geethu played her heart out, but didn’t get adequate support from the other players.

Except for 19-year-old Pratima Singh, who excelled in patches with her rebound collections, lay-ups and occasional long range shooting, the other Indian girls seemed to go off colour after a bright start. The Chinese Taipei players, egged on vociferously by their head coach Lin Hung Ling-Yao, took advantage of the weaknesses of the Indian players and controlled the pace of the game. Their crowded marking tactics had the Indian girls fumbling at crucial moments.

“We also lack tournament exposure as there are hardly any high quality basketball tournaments in India and we hardly play any tournaments as a preparation for big events. I hope the federation will address this issue and in future, we will get more international exposure,” Geethu, who played for Australian team Ringwood Hawks from 2006 to 2008, said.

Indian coach JP Singh appeared to be clearly miffed at the performance of the girls. “We have given the best of coaching, but the players performed poorly today. I really can’t answer for why they played so badly. You must ask the players why they made so many mistakes. I agree that they put up a good fight, but they also wasted opportunities and fumbled with the ball. I hope they will perform better in the other matches,” he said.

The Chinese Taipei players who scored their second victory, as they had defeated Japan in their first match, showed tremendous all-round skills with five of their players crossing the double figure mark.

Results: Level 1: Malaysia beat Lebanon 84-69 (half time: 41-47); Kazakhastan beat Philippines 71-52 (32-21); Uzbekistan beat Sri Lanka 89-48