The Hindu : India thrashes Sri Lanka, qualifies for Asian meet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 12, 2003

Sport

Sport - Basketball

India thrashes Sri Lanka, qualifies for Asian meet

By Rakesh Rao

India's S.P. Kadam (right) tries to get past Sri Lankan skipper Channinda de Alwis in the Middle Asia zone qualifying round of the Asian basketball championship in New Delhi on Friday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI JULY 11. After Bangladesh and Nepal, it was Sri Lanka's turn to get bullied by `Big Brother' India in the Middle Asia zone basketball qualifying championship.

A healthy margin of 101-56 on Friday saw India complete the formalities of joining Uzbekistan as the qualifiers for the Asian championship to be held in Nanjiang (China) from September 23 to October 2. China, Lebanon, Korea, Syria, Qatar and Japan are the teams directly seeded in the 16-nation field. India and Uzbekistan, with three victories in as many outings, clash on Saturday to decide the league topper.

As expected, India went about its task of trying out various combinations against Lanka. Unlike in the first two matches, Parminder Singh played for 25 minutes. He needed to spend time on the court since he is expected to play a big role against Uzbekistan. Muralikrishna and S. Sridhar nearly spent as much on the court as Parminder while the rest, barring an off-colour Desraj, played between 11 and 17 minutes each. The idea of the Indian think-tank was clearly to give every player an opportunity to test his skills before Saturday's big game.

For the record, Indians led 25-13, 40-24 and 73-45 at the end of the first three quarters. If India managed to score 33 points in the third quarter, as compared to just 15 in the second, it was mainly because it fielded a combination of shooters including Snehpal Singh, Gagnesh Kumar, Desraj, Trideep Rai and Riyazuddin. Again, midway through the final quarter, it was the presence of Parminder, Muralikrishna, Trideep, Sambhaji Kadam and Gopinath that accelerated the scoring rate. Sambhaji Kadam once again played to the galleries — with a fair amount of success — and kept the crowd enthralled.

Distance shooting gave India 50 per cent success with Riyazuddin finding two of the eight three-pointers. On the rebound count, 27 in defence and just 13 in offence, it was a bit low.

For the Lankans, there was no real consolation. But credit must be given to the speedy islanders for keeping Parminder quiet. As a result, India's victory margin was its least in three games.

Duke Rajapakse was the most successful shooter for Lanka after coming in during the second half of the match. Asanka Suwaris, Chanath Danawansa, Heshan Premachandra and Eranga Weerasinghe were the others who did their bit with modest success.

With three `warm-up' games over, the time has come for the Indians to prove themselves against the mighty Uzbeks. Undoubtedly, the Uzbeks enjoy a distinct height-advantage against the Indians. Speed is another area where they are ahead. The Indians, still to shed their desire for dribbling, will be up against rivals who believe in passing the ball at the first available opportunity. It remains to be seen how India matches the board-control of the Uzbeks on rebounds.

Meanwhile, in the day's other match, Bangladesh staved off a late challenge by Nepal to win 66-60.

The result gave Bangladesh its first victory and ended Nepal's campaign with an all-defeat record in the five-nation league. Nepal, which led 16-15 after the first quarter, had made it 60-63 soon after failing to convert four free-throws with 80 seconds remaining. In the final minute, Bangladesh did not lose its composure and converted three free-throws to keep Nepal at bay.

On Saturday, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka play for the third spot.

The scores:

India 101 (S. Robinson 17, Trideep Rai 13, Riyazuddin 12, S. Sridhar 12, Parminder Singh 12, Gagnesh Kumar 10) beat Sri Lanka 56 (Duke Rajapakse 14, Asanka Suwaris 9).

Bangladesh 66 (Raseduzzaman 26, Mohammad Mustafa Kamal Azad 14, Kamruzzaman 9) beat Nepal 60 (Nirmal Gurung 14, Paresh Shrestha 13, Bependra Maharjan 13, Sujan Shrestha 11).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport