2018 Asian Games Recap: August 19th
Women's basketball at the 2018 Asian Games. Picture: asiangames2018.id
Our coverage of basketball at the 2018 Asian Games continues with the third day of play in the women's tournament, where things started to heat up as the group stage reached its mid-way point:
Group A
After a tight start to the game, Chinese Taipei erupted at the start of the second half, out-scoring India by 31 points to 17, giving them a big, comfortable lead. Shooting well from the field and moving the ball around well, Chinese Taipei easily kept hold of their lead until the end of the game, running out eventual winners 84-61. Chinese Taipei remain unbeaten in the group stage, while India are on the opposite end, still in search of a win to keep their hopes in the competition alive.
Hosts Indonesia were welcomed back to the court, but faced tough competition early and often from Kazakhstan. 30 points from Natasha Christaline gave Indonesia hope, but Kazakhstan made the most of their scoring chances and shut out the hosts on defence, recording 36 defensive rebounds and 11 blocks as a team. With 18 and 17 points each respectively, Nadezhda Kondrakova and Tamara Yagodkina led Kazakhstan on the way to a second victory in the competition, by a margin of 85-73.
Group B
Japan set the tone early on with fourteen unanswered points against Mongolia in the first quarter, and with their offence rampant for the remainder of the game they made sure there was no way back for Mongolia. Bulbul Murat's 16 points for Mongolia were eclipsed by a standout show from Mio Shinokazi, who scored 19 of Japan's 107 total points over 35 from their opponents.
Hong Kong went looking for their first win, but Thailand were not going to let themselves be pushed over. Supavadee Kunchuan gave Thailand a slender two-point lead at the end of the first quarter, which they stretched to ten at half-time. Hong Kong fought back with some nice three-point shooting - they had ten threes in the game - and levelled the scoreline as the game entered it's final stage.
Thailand re-asserted their authority with two unbroken runs of eight points, and despite the best efforts of Wong Ka Man and Li Tsz Kwan (23 and 22 total points respectively) there was no room left for Hong Kong to come back. Thailand get into the win column with a ten-point victory, in which Thidaporn Maihom led all scorers with 24 points.
At the end of gameday three, Chinese Taipei are still looking strong with a 3-0 record, while giving themselves winning records, Japan and Kazakhstan improve their stock in the tournament. Mongolia suffer a set-back while Thailand score a crucial victory, leaving Hong Kong still winless, as are India and Indonesia.
Tomorrow will see two more games from the women's tournament along with two from the men's as basketball continues at the Asian Games. Full information on today's match-ups can be found on the official Asian Games 2018 website.
