FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2022: India suffers defeat in opening game

Australia dominated from the beginning as they win by a huge margin.

The Indian Women's U 18 Basketball team began their FIBA Asian Championship with a loss against Australia. Australians were the outright favourites and as per the world rankings, Australia is No.2. While India stands at No. 52 in the world. As expected, the former made the latter pay for every error on the court.India had a tough outing against the Aussies as they scored 25 points or more in each of the four quarters. Whereas India’s highest tally for a quarter was 17. Australia opened up a maximum lead of 67 points compared to India’s five points. Isobel Borlase was Australia’s best performer with 20 points to her name. While Deepthi Raja top scored for India with 14 points.

Australia showed their domination

Australia showed its power and prowess as it dominated the host team without breaking a sweat. Due to their superior skill and speed in every category, the Indian girls were always on the back foot. Up until the sixth minute, Australia was leading 17-0. It took some time for India to find its rhythm.

Australia was dominant in almost all areas of the game - steals, assists and blocks. Only in turnovers did India outpower the Australians. India relied only on free throws to gain points while Australia was equally effective in the 2-point and 3-point field goal percentage.

In the leadup to the tournament, the Indian team had a preparatory camp for 45-60 days. However, as per head coach Arnika Patil, the team didn’t have much exposure due to COVID-19 but she assured the team is up for the challenge. Arnika will be assisted by Anitha Paul Dural who has the experience of competing in as many as nine Asian women's championships.

India is drawn in Group A with teams Australia, Korea and New Zealand. In Group B, China, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Japan are pooled together. Overall, the top two teams from each group will advance to the FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2023 which will be held in Madrid, Spain.

India are currently placed in the Division A. The team that finishes bottom in its division and in eighth place is demoted to Division B for the next tournament. Hence, India will look to avoid the last position final.

India at FIBA U 18 Asian Championship

The FIBA U18 Women’s Asian Championship first took place in 1970 and is now conducted every two years. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia. India is hosting the tournament for the third time since its inception. New Delhi hosted the 2000 edition and Bangalore hosted the 2018 edition. In this edition, all matches will be held at Bangalore’s Kanteerava Indoor Stadium from 05 - 11 September 2022.

A lot rides on the star players like Sathya Krishnamurthi and Manmeet Kaur if India wants to better their best-ever fourth-place finish at the U-18 level which came in 1980 in Thailand. India will eye winning against Chinese Taipei (ranked 30) and Indonesia (ranked 41) as all other teams seem to be far superior. India next face the Republic of Korea on Wednesday - 07 September.