FIBA Asian Women’s U-18 Championship —India relegated to Division B

India has been relegated to Division-B and will play in the second tier in 2024. The FIBA Asian women’s u-18 basketball championship, here on Friday, saw Indonesia pull off a nerve-wracking 48-45 win over India to finish seventh, and stay in the top-tier (Division-A).

With the clock showing 2:04, shooting guard Vanissa Renata Siregar came up with a brilliant three-pointer that enabled Indonesia to script a famous victory.

India fought back valiantly after being outplayed in the first quarter (5-17) to reduce the margin to five points (22-27) in the second. However, it was in the third quarter that India showed fine defensive rebounding skills and decent shooting.

Shooting guard Karanveer Kaur’s timely three-pointers (5/9 attempts) ensured India remained in the contest. Centre Bhumika Singh and power forward Niharika Reddy Mekapati did really well in defence in the third and fourth quarters.

But it was India’s woeful shooting that turned out to be its undoing, especially in the first two quarters. Shooting guard Vanissa, the star of Indonesia’s triumph, emerged the top-scorer for her team with 14 points.

Deepthi Raja of India in action against Indonesia in the FIBA U18 Women’s Asian Championship Division A at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday, 9 September, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain

“We enjoyed our game. The important thing was our defence was good. We had prepared only for two weeks and moreover most of our players were 16-17 years old. But thanks to India for putting up a fight,” said Oey Andre Yuwadi, the head coach of Indonesia.

The results: Classification match (7 & 8 position): Indonesia 48 (Erlita Christiana 12, Vanissa Renata Siregar 14) bt India 45 (Nitika Amuthan 12, Karanveer Kaur 15).