Wednesday’s schedule
(All time IST GMT+5:30)

Level 1 Play-Offs
13:00 Hrs: Thailand vs Lebanon
15:00 Hrs: India vs Malaysia

Semifinals
17:00 Hrs: Korea vs Japan
19:00 Hrs: China vs Chinese Taipei

CHENNAI (23rd FIBA Asia Women Championship) - Last edition’s semifinalists China set up a semifinal clash with Chinese Taipei after beating defending champions Korea 75-72 in a humdinger on Wednesday.

The other semifinal will feature Korea against 2007 FIBA Asia Women Championship bronze medallists Japan.

Japan, earlier, scored a confidence-boosting 108-58 win over hosts India and Chinese Taipei overcame a feisty Thailand 76-66.

China’s win tonight, which helped them maintain their unbeaten record in the Championship and top Level I, also ended Korea’s unbeaten streak in the Championship.

Korea lost a game in the Championship after 11 consecutive wins, including a 7-0 run which took them to the gold medal two year ago at Incheon.

Beon Yeonha scored a game-high 23 points, but her three-pointer attempt with Korea trailing 72-73 and about 40 seconds left, bounced off the rim.

At the other end, Miao Lijie earned a foul on her and converted both the free-throws and China pushed ahead further.

Off the return play-in, Kim Jungeun tried the closest of the three-pointers but her attempt too rebounded out.

Kim Jungeun had earlier scored 17 points in the game.

Miao Lijie played at her best in the Championship and scored 14 points, but the honour of leading China’s scoring was shared by Chen Xiaoli and Chen Nan with 17 points each.

Both contributed even in rebounds – Chen Nan with a game-high 10 boards and Chen Xiaoli eight rebounds.

Those two contributions proved more crucial than points – as China won the battle of boards 33-16.

“It was a game that demanded the best from both. Luckily for us, they fumbled at the end,” said China coach Sun Fengwu.

“I think those two misses made all the difference,” said Korea coach Lim Dal Shik.

Japan’s coach Fumikazu Nakagawa asserted that the big margin of victory acted a boost to their confidence.

“Any win is good and if it comes with a little fight it’s even better,” said Japan coach Fumikazu Nakagawa.

“From now, it’s a matter of one win to reach our target (of qualifying for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women), but we need to achieve that win,” he added.

“It is in that direction such wins help,” Nakagawa said.

Yoshie Sakurada sat out the entire first quarter and did not score at all in the fourth, yet led the scoring for the game with 26 points, in an incredible 75% field record (9/12), including a 5/7 in three-pointers..

Ai Mitani too had a field day (7/11) with a superb 6/7 in three-pointers for her 20 points.

A 13-0 run early in the second quarter opened up the game for Japan.

Sakurada fired two three-pointers interspersed with a three-point play, Kumiko Yamada scored twice on the paint and Noriko Kosio converted two free-throws as Japan left India well behind.

Kiranjeet Kaur converted a defensive rebound to end the barren run for India, but Japan were back in action with a 10-0 run this time.

Kosio took the lead this time with five points, a trademark drive in the lane marking her showing and the 2007 FIBA Asia Women Championship bronze medalists were well on their way.

Anitha Pauldurai’s success on the paint and Raspreet Sidhu’s saved India the blushes as Mitani fired in two three-pointers and Japan had nothing to worry heading into the changing rooms 55-31 ahead.

Japan played for time in the entire second half.

Geethu Anna Jose’s tryst with game-highs continued – a 12/20 field record marking her 30 points – as did her fate to end up on the losing side.

Chinese Taipei played the ‘Catch me if you can’ to almost perfection and Thailand fell short of catching Taipei.

Taipei, a semifinalist at the last edition at Incheon ensured there was no dent in the East Asian monopoly of the last four, winning the game 76-66.

“It was a lot tougher than what we expected,” said Chinese Taipei coach Lin Hung Ling-Yao.

“We also had to preserve the players for the semifinals,” she added.

“Our preparations coming into the championship, especially in terms of the conditioning of the players is not great,” Lin Hung said.

“There was no point in outstretching ourselves,” she added.

Taipei broke away from the equally sparring Thais early in the second half and never looked back.

Lin Hung used 11 of her players and 10 of them scored.

Liu Chun-yi led the scoring with 16 points, and seven rebounds.

Lan Jui-yu scored 11, nine of them in the second half, as the others shared the task of scoring equally.

Juthamas Jantakan scored a game-high 22 points, and collected seven rebounds, for Thailand but unfortunately in a losing cause.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia