FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup: Indian women's team bows out from group stage
Indian women's 3x3 team exited from the group stage of the main draw after losing to New Zealand and Australia.
Indian women's 3x3 team exits from group stage of main draw at FIBA Asia Cup.
India women's 3x3 basketball team bowed out from the group stage of the main draw after losing to last year's finalists New Zealand and Australia respectively at the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup in Singapore on Saturday.
The team started the day with a 10-17 defeat against New Zealand despite a very good defensive game but the opponents were too agile and the Indian team got exhausted in the end due to New Zealand's constant attack.
Sreekala Rani used her physique very well to stop New Zealand attackers and also offered a good threat at the offensive front. She scores 3 points in the match behind the top scorer Pushpa Senthil Kumar on 4 points.
India was badly missing their fourth player, Kavya Singla, who caught a knee injury in the qualifying match against Hong Kong. They were fighting hard with this tough New Zealand side till the point of 7-8 but then fatigue crept in and they became a little slow and lost control in the end.
In the second match of the day, they were up against three-time champions Australia, who was too good for the Indian side and they lost to them very comfortably 7-21 in the end.
Australia topped the group and qualified for the knockout stage alongside New Zealand from Group D while India suffered a group-stage exit.
This was the second consecutive group stage exit for the former champions, the Indian team, who showed good physical play but was lacking a bit in the final finish. They will try to build upon this young team and come back stronger in the next edition.