FIBA U19W - Classification Saturday

PUERTO MONTT (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - Places 9-12 were decided at the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Chile, while Canada and France will play off for fifth position on Sunday in Puerto Montt.

Canada survived a now trademark Japan charge to register a 77-71 win, led by Michelle Plouffe's 19 points and 8 rebounds. Shiori Takada scored 29 points for Japan, while point guard Rui Machida just missed a triple double with 14 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds.

France defeated Russia 82-50 after a tight first half, Jenny Fouasseau (17 points) and Helena Akmouche (16 points) leading the way for the victors. Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi collected 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 
China claimed ninth place after leading by 19 points at half time and hanging on grimly for a 66-62 victory. Centre Dong Yu collected 25 points and 10 rebounds in the win, and Italian centre Alessandra Formica had 23 points of her own.

Chinese Taipei finished in 11th place after their comprehensive 86-49 win over Chile. Yu-Ting Lin had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists for Taipei, and Chile were led by 11 points from Fernanda Serrano.

Here is what the coaches and players of the four teams who exited the competition on Saturday had to say:
 
Yu-Ting Lin (Chinese Taipei, player):
It is a dream to play at a world championship so we all wanted to try our best. We are very happy and we say thank you to Chile (for hosting the tournament). They gave us great help, and we are very happy to be here because there are many facilities that we do not have in Taiwan, and we have learned a lot here.


Mei-Li Chen (Chinese Taipei, coach):
We are very happy with our tournament here, to win three games is very good for Taiwan.
 
Monserrat Videla (Chile, player):
It was great experience playing in the international game. As a team we are proud with our development on the court. This experience is going to be a big help for us for the future.

Cristian Santander (Chile, coach):
I am not sad, but I would have liked the girls to have a win and be happy, and also all the people who worked so hard organising this tournament. We leave the tournament as one of three teams that didn't win, but it could be worse than being number 12 in the world. I am happy that my girls gave their best efforts.
 
Chiara Zanin (Italy, player):
It has been a great experience because this is the first time that Italy has played at the women's U19 world championship, and each day we play we feel more comfortable. We are a little sad because maybe if we had a little bit more, we could have played further in the tournament.


Giovanni Lucchesi (Italy, coach):
We know now that we must respect every game, every country, every player, every coach. Now we know that we can play with every team, maybe under sufferance, but we can play against everybody.
I am sure that I, our staff, our players, have learned many ideas about basketball in the world. We left Italy as Italian people, and we now return as world people.
 
Wang Guizhi (China, coach):
For our preparation for the championship, we are not really satisfied with the result, but it has been very important for the development of the team and each player. This is the second time we have played Italy - we are very impressed with their speedy transition - each team here plays differently, and we learned a lot. When we return to China we will use than in our training and planning for the future.
 
Dong Yu (China, player):
This is my second time at the world championship, the first time was the under 17 championship last year. I think this is a great opportunity for me and for my team to play against these great teams, and play with the physical contact that these teams play with.



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