China outplayed India 107-49 in a Level I match of the 23rd FIBA Asia Women’s championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
The Indian girls suffered their third successive loss, while the Chinese scored their third successive win and are on course for a semifinal spot. The Indian girls were outplayed in every department of the game though they tried hard to prevent the Chinese from running away with a huge score.
The Indians depended too much on captain Geethu Anna Jose both in defence and offence. India now face the uphill task of defeating Japan and Thailand to retain their spot in Level I. While the match against Thailand on Monday may not be all that tough, the clash against Japan on Tuesday would be a crucial one.
There will be no matches on Sunday, which is a designated rest day for the championships. The last two teams in Level I will get relegated to Level II, while the first two teams from Level II will be promoted. India made it to the grade this year by finishing on top in the last edition. The first three teams from Level I will qualify for the World Championships to be held in Czech Republic next year. In an earlier match, Japan routed Thailand 94-60 for a 2-1 win. Japan had beaten Chinese Taipei, but lost to China.
“I clearly saw two different sets of Indian player, the players in the camp and the players in the actual match situation. Playing in the big league for the first time, the Indian players were obviously overawed by their stronger opponents. Though their scoring pattern has improved from each match, the Indian girls somehow didn’t play to their full potential.
They need to get more exposure playing bigger teams like the USA or Spain before getting on to big tournaments such as this and facing teams like China or Korea. We knew we had to play a solid game against the Chinese who are good at scoring, though our plan worked to some extent we didn’t get to stop the Chinese juggernaut from rolling,” Indian assistant coach Dinesh Mitchell told reporters after the post-match press conference.
Results: Level II: Philippines beat Uzbekistan 81-73 (Half time 38-26); Lebanon beat Sri Lanka 96-54 (49-31); Malaysia beat Kazakhastan 71-57 (32-23).
