Bengaluru: In a lopsided clash, India trashed a listless Hong Kong side by a margin of 83-38 in their Division B semi-final match at the FIBAU-18 Women's Asian Championship held at Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Friday. India will play Kazakhstan in the finals of their division on Saturday. The winner of this game will seal a berth in Division A for next edition of this tournament, which will be held in 2020. Host nation India, playing in front of their home crowd displayed some exceptional skill with the ball, taking charge of proceedings from the very 1st minute. Dakshini Thirunavukkarasu and Harshita Kellitra Bopaiah grabbed 6 points each for India in the first quarter whereas Hong Kong had to be satisfied with a mere 8 points.
The situation didn't improve in the second quarter for the visitors as the Indian eves piled on the points. The consolation for Hong Kong was that they managed to reach double figures at the start of the second quarter, after which they turned mere spectators of the Indian onslaught.
It was a treat for the Indian fans who came in good numbers to support their team as they thoroughly dominated the game - while Hong Kong could only attain 2 points in the ten minutes they faced in the third quarter, the hosts scored 17 points in that session.
An All Asian Affair
Earlier in the day, Division A saw an intense competition for the top slots. In the 5th-6th classification match, New Zealand got the better of Chinese Taipei by a huge margin of 75-47. New Zealand skipper Charilesse Legar-Walker and Yu-Chieh Chen of the Chinese Taipei attained the maximum points with 18 and 16 respectively.
In the 1st semi-final of Division A Korea, were defeated by a title favourites China by a margin of 51-69. In the whole game, Korea had their moments but were unable to breach the stout Chinese defence. Though the second semi-final between Japan and Australia was evenly fought, agility and quick conversion rate helped the Japanese lead the first quarter. Australia fought back in the second quarter by taking a slender lead of one point. The Japanese came into the 3rd quarter and quashed the opposition's hopes and took the game away from Australia by earning 52 points. This win over Australia assures an Asian winner of the tournament as Japan will meet their arch-rivals China in the final on Saturday.
