On a day when South Korea took a double overtime and more than four years to topple the applecart of China in the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship for women, Indian cagers started their campaign in the 24th edition of the tourney, that began in Japan on Sunday, with a big loss against East Asian powerhouse Chinese Taipei.
The Taipei women took almost the first quarter to settle into their groove in their Elite Level opener against a side which is termed as "a team in progress". After a little hustle early on, there was no stopping Chinese Taipei as they rolled on to what finally looked a comfortable 81-53 win.
After a tough contest in the first quarter that the Taipei women won 20-15, they tightened their defense and garnered the second quarter 21-11 to take a handy 15-point advantage at the halfway mark. After the change of ends, Taipei players continued their show of skillful and speedy basketball to stretch the lead further to 28 points by dominating the third period 25-12.
Indians had a good show in the last quarter. Both the teams netted 15 points apiece as Chinese Taipei kick-started their campaign with a facile victory. All the Taipei players took to the court and 11 of them scored, with Liu Chun-yi scoring a game-high 19 points during her 21-minute stay on the court.
India too used all their players, but the scoring was heavily loaded on only three. Geethu Anna Jose, leading scorer of the last two FIBA Asia Championships, was as expected the leader of the Indian scoring with 18 points, and also took eight rebounds. Former India captain Prashanti Singh and Anitha Pauldurai, Geethu 's only two remaining colleagues from the team that earned the Level I promotion at the 22nd edition of the meet at Incheon in 2007, scored 10 points apiece.
Explaining the losing start, India's American coach Pete Gaudet said: "I thought we had a good game. But then we don't have the same kind of players nor did we have the same balance." However, Geethu sounded optimistic about the future. "Don't judge us by this game. Our team is a work in progress," she said.
Meanwhile, world No. 9 Korea stunned defending champions China 99-93 in a thrill-of-a-minute clash in two extra periods. It was the first occasion in the last four years that China had lost a game in this competition - the last time they suffered a loss was also against Korea in the gold medal game in 2007.
The Taipei women took almost the first quarter to settle into their groove in their Elite Level opener against a side which is termed as "a team in progress". After a little hustle early on, there was no stopping Chinese Taipei as they rolled on to what finally looked a comfortable 81-53 win.
After a tough contest in the first quarter that the Taipei women won 20-15, they tightened their defense and garnered the second quarter 21-11 to take a handy 15-point advantage at the halfway mark. After the change of ends, Taipei players continued their show of skillful and speedy basketball to stretch the lead further to 28 points by dominating the third period 25-12.
Indians had a good show in the last quarter. Both the teams netted 15 points apiece as Chinese Taipei kick-started their campaign with a facile victory. All the Taipei players took to the court and 11 of them scored, with Liu Chun-yi scoring a game-high 19 points during her 21-minute stay on the court.
India too used all their players, but the scoring was heavily loaded on only three. Geethu Anna Jose, leading scorer of the last two FIBA Asia Championships, was as expected the leader of the Indian scoring with 18 points, and also took eight rebounds. Former India captain Prashanti Singh and Anitha Pauldurai, Geethu 's only two remaining colleagues from the team that earned the Level I promotion at the 22nd edition of the meet at Incheon in 2007, scored 10 points apiece.
Explaining the losing start, India's American coach Pete Gaudet said: "I thought we had a good game. But then we don't have the same kind of players nor did we have the same balance." However, Geethu sounded optimistic about the future. "Don't judge us by this game. Our team is a work in progress," she said.
Meanwhile, world No. 9 Korea stunned defending champions China 99-93 in a thrill-of-a-minute clash in two extra periods. It was the first occasion in the last four years that China had lost a game in this competition - the last time they suffered a loss was also against Korea in the gold medal game in 2007.
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