Navneet Singh ,23 Sep : Indian girls finally played a great match to outplay Malaysia 90-74 in a play off on the penultimate day of the 23rd FIBA Asia women championship at Jawarlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
With this win today, India has retained its position in Level I competition for the next edition of the tournament. Earlier, the team had lost all its Level I matches.
In a do or die situation, hosts made a good beginning and never looked behind.
The only time Malaysian girls caught up with the eventual winner was at the end of the second quarter (42-44). But Indian girls looked rejuvenated lot in the next two quarters and never allowed the rivals to take control of the match.
Elated after team’s victory in the match today, coach JP Singh said: “The players had combined well in the match. It paid rich dividend.”
Indeed, Harjeet Kaur who had not been consistent in the previous matches, was impressive both in offence and defence. She moved faster on the court and excelled under basket. She also anticipated the ball well to collect most of rebounds.
In a crucial match like today, her support to the team was huge as she netted 31 points, which greatly contributed to the team’s victory.
Team skipper Geethu Anna Jose was equally impressive and netted 21 points.
India apart, Lebanon was another team that was in celebration mood today.
Lebanon in their play off match today defeated Thailand 83-58 to be elevated to Level I in the tournament.
“It’s a great day for us. We have made moved up in the tournament,” said team coach Elie Nasr.
India 90 (Harjeet Kaur 31, Geethu Anna Jose 21, Raspreet Sidhu 11) bt Malaysia 74 (Beng fong Goh 16, Yann yann Pee 15, Suik may Kew 14).
Thailand 58 (Suksomwong 21, Naruemol Banmoo 13, Juthamas Jantakan 13) lost to
Lebanon 83 (Chantelle Anderson 24, Chada Nasr 23, Nisrin Dandan 15)