How much do you know about the last 3 FIBA Women's Asia Cup MVPs?
ASIA – The FIBA Women’s Asia Cup draws near and other than the anticipation to find out who will become the champion of this year’s edition, there is also excitement swirling around who might win the MVP award. Before we get there, let’s take a look back at the last 3 players to win MVP of the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup!
Kelsey Griffin (Australia)
Women’s Asia Cup 2017 MVP
In her very first Asia Cup, Griffin was spectacular from start to finish. Averaging just 19.9 minutes per game, Griffin was 3rd among all players in scoring with 15.8 points per contest. More impressively than the volume of her scoring was how efficient she was in getting her points. On her way to scoring at least 9 points every game with a high of 30 in the championship match, Griffin shot 61.7 percent from the field, 60.0 percent from beyond the arc (6-10), and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe. It’s usually a knock on a player if their free throw shooting is only slightly higher than their shooting on the field, but in the case of Griffin, it’s a compliment of her accuracy.
Even though the 1.88M (6’2”) forward missed out on winning an Asia Cup title in her first run, she did end up being named the tournament MVP.
Ramu Tokashiki (Japan)
Women’s Asia Cup 2015 MVP
Women’s Asia Cup 2013 MVP
In 2017, Griffin wasn’t in the running up against Ramu Tokashiki who didn’t play for Japan that year. It was Tokashiki who had won the MVP award in the two prior tournaments (2013, 2015) which also resulted in two gold medals for Japan. During her two MVP tournament runs, Japan won all 14 games without a single defeat. Tokashiki is the only player ever in Asia Cup history to win the MVP award in back-to-back competitions.
She was an unstoppable force in 2013, leading the tournament in scoring (17.2 points per game) and blocks (2.0 per game) while also being second in rebounds (8.9 boards per contest). Tokashiki was particularly dominant during the two games against rivals Korea that year, averaging 23.5 points and 14.0 rebounds per game in both wins.
Tokashiki’s numbers dipped to 11.4 points and 6.0 rebounds in her back-to-back MVP run in 2015. That year, it was China who had to face Japan twice and Tokashiki dominated both times with 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Miao Lijie (China)
Women’s Asia Cup 2011 MVP
Women’s Asia Cup 2003 MVP
Tokashiki might have been the first player to win MVP in consecutive Asia Cups, but she was not the first to win the award twice. Those honors go to China’s Miao Lijie who recieved the honors in the 2003 and 2011 edition of the Asia Cup.
Miao’s first MVP was in China’s 8th Asia Cup title win at the 2003 tournament, where she dropped a tournament-high 10 assists during the championship game win over Japan.
It wasn’t until 2011 when the 1.78M (5’10”) forward won the award another time. Miao led all scorers in a tight title game against Korea with 20 points, ending up with a 65-62 win and China’s 11th Asia Cup win. Over the course of the 2011 Asia Cup, Miao averaged 13.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per contest.
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