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New Delhi (5 August 2015): With their best hope of a victory, India took on Thailand in the 4th FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship for Women 2015 earlier today. The match began positively, with India (world rank 39) leading 12-11 at the end of the first quarter against Thailand (world rank 40). But soon the match turned completely on its head. Thailand turned on their jets in the second quarter to go on a huge 33-12 run to take a 44-24 lead at halftime.
Indian forwards Sushantika Chakravortty and Shrishti Suren battled hard in the frontcourt, pulling down rebounds and scoring in the paint. Fighting to come back into the game, India matched Thailand almost shot for shot in the third period, but another low scoring fourth quarter meant that Thailand had surged to a 90-58 win.
India (0-4) plays its final league match against Chinese Taipei (1-3) tomorrow (6 August 2015) at 11:30 am IST. There is now only a remote mathematical possibility of India avoiding being sent to play qualifying matches to stay in Level 1. India needs to win its final league game against higher placed Chinese Taipei (world rank 27) by a sizeable margin while simultaneously hoping that Thailand (currently in 4th spot in Level 1) is comprehensively beaten by China.
If India does finish among the bottom two Level 1 teams after tomorrow, it will most likely face either Hong Kong or Indonesia in a qualifying match on 8th August 2015. This will be a must-win-game that will decide whether India stays on in Level 1 for the next edition of the FIBA Asia Championship.
Thailand (Rattiyakorn Udomsuk 28 pts, Thunchanok Lumdappang 18 pts & 15 rbs) bt India (Sushantika Chakravortty 17 pts & 13 rbs, Shrishti Suren 13 pts & 10 rbs) 90-58 [11-12, 33-12, 23-21, 23-13]
