India earn promotion to Division A with title win at FIBA U16 Women's Asia Cup 2025

India had to fight back to recover after squandering 10-point lead at one stage.

Heroes were aplenty as India escaped Iran in a final befitting of a titular bout, 67-66, to rule Division B of the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup 2025, Friday night at the Karisma Arena.

The South Asian side coughed up the 55-44 lead they built early in the final period and even found themselves staring at a 61-62 deficit with 2:23s remaining, but all of them refused to throw in the towel.

Vaishnavi Pardeshi emerged as the unlikely spark off the bench, as she gave themselves the upper hand again at 63-62 after finishing the break—which she herself initiated—with a tough layup with 1:34 to go.

Those were her only points of the entire tournament.

Aditi Subramanian added on to the lead with her own conversion from inside entering the final minute, before Viha Jonnalagadda pushed the gap to two possessions with a hit from close range, 67-63, with 9.9 seconds left.

Mobina Bereihi tried to will the young team Melli back in the game following a booming trifecta from the corner with exactly seven seconds to spare, but time was no longer enough to complete the comeback.

And India, shortly after, would erupt in jubilation as they finished their redemption story by bringing the program back to Division A, after being relegated when they finished dead-last in the 2022 games in Jordan.

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“I’m really proud of these girls,” said head coach Anitha Pauldurai. “After eight years, we’re promoted to Division A. As I said, this age group, we just had to motivate them … to just focus on getting promoted to Division A.”

Jonnalagadda top-scored for the Indian basketball team with 21 points and 10 rebounds, which she laced with 3 blocks. Subramanian finished with 19 points behind a 7-of-15 shooting from the field, including two triples.

Reva Kulkarni supplied 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Mahek Sharma came through with a double-double of her own with 10 points and 18 rebounds plus 3 steals as the team finished the meet with a clean 5-0 record.

“Again, I’m very proud of my players. It’s all about teamwork, and it’s the same on the ground for those who helped us – the Indian team, the Indian officials, and the Basketball Federation of India,” Pauldurai said.

Wasted by the loss, on the other hand, was the 30-point effort of Bereihi to lead Iran, who suffered another heartbreak as they were literally a basket away from realizing their Division A dreams.

The young team Melli instead settled for a runner-up finish for the second time in a row, having done as much during the 2023 Division B competitions in Jordan as well after bowing to the Philippines via rout.

Hasti Khazaei and Elina Kazemevini added 10 points each for the team from West Asia, who fell to the same team that beat them in the first day of competitions last Saturday. They finished the tilt with a 4-2 card.

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