Defending champion Japan and powerhouse China put on a scintillating show in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup semifinal here on Friday, with Japan emerging a close 74-71 winner.
In the absence of injured star point guard Asami Yoshida, it was up to Manami Fujioka to lead the Japan side. Equipped with the acceleration of a sprinter, to go along with dazzling ball-handling skills, Manami (19 points, 14 assists) proved to be unstoppable.
The 23-year-old ran up and down the court with manic energy, and found her open teammates with a pin-point assists.
On the other side of the fence, China had its own set of skilled hoopsters. Southpaw Shoa Ting, the quintessential forward, skipped through the lane and finished near the rim. When left unmarked, she took clean jump-shots.
From being down 60-69 in the final quarter, Japan brought it to 68-69 through some electric fast-breaks from Nagaoka Moeko. A no-look pass from Manami to Takada Maki then made it 71-69 in Japan’s favour. On the last play, with Japan up 74-71, China’s Shi Xiufeng missed a corner three-pointer.
Host advances
In Division B, India edged out Lebanon 79-69. P.S. Jeena (20 points), Raspreet Sidhu (17 points) and Anitha Paul Durai (13 points) allowed the host to claw its way back from a precarious position.
India takes on Kazakhstan in the summit clash on Saturday. If the home side emerges victorious, it will qualify to Division A for the next edition of the championship.
The results (semifinals): Division A: Australia 81 (Kelsey Griffin 16, Alanna Smith 12, Lauren
Mansfield 10, Sara Blicavs 10) bt South Korea 64 (Sungyoung Sim 14, Leeseul Kang 14, Hui Lim Lung 12); Japan 74 (Manami Fujioka 19, Yuki Miyazawa 16, Nagaoka Moeka 14, Takada Maik 13) bt China 71 (Shoa Ting 16, Li Yueru 13, Gao Song 13).
Division B: Kazakhstan 77 (Zalina Kurazova 24, Nadezhda Kondrakova 18) bt Uzbekistan 51 (Anastasiya Sevastyanova 19, Irina Averyanova 13, Aliya Samatova 10); India 79 (P.S. Jeena 20, Raspreet Sidhu 17, Anitha Paul Durai 13) bt Lebanon 69 (Akl Rebecca 20, Charif Chirine 17, M. Lama 16).