Clinical Chinese Taipei take India in stride

NAGPUR: For a team playing without a point guard, India did well to boost their morale in the early part of their third game, but as things would have it the unfancied rivals threw in the towel in the second half as Chinese Taipei coasted along for a 93-79 win in the 24th Fiba Asia U-18 Basketball Championship in Iran on Sunday.
Having blocked India's very first attempt, Chinese Taipei made their intentions clear and went on to block as many as eight balls — almost 16 points — to register a clinical 14-point win.Despite both the teams having an average height of 6-foot-2, the Taipei players timed their jump well and were perfect under the glass to out rebound India 50-46. They also snatch as many as 11 second chance points.
Delhi's Hansraj is the only point guard in the team but he is yet to get a game in the competition and is seen warming up the bench in all the three matches India played.
For starters, Indian cagers did well to restrict their higher ranked rivals 22-19 at the end of first quarter. The 27th ranked Taipei outfit, however, came back strongly to win the following quarter 21-15 and snatch a handy nine-point advantage at the breather.
In a bid to regain the lead, Indian cagers started aggressively after the break but failed to defend the rim as Taipei made most of a handful of loose balls to stretch the lead further to 15 points by dominating the third quarter 28-22. India tried hard in the final 10 minutes, won the last quarter period 22-23, but fell short to suffer second straight defeat by as many as 14 points.
"We gave our best in both the games that we lost, but both these teams were much stronger than us," admitted Indian skipper Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi in a chat with TOI from Iran. On the positive that India took from back-to-back defeats he added, "We didn't give up till the last minute and will make a comeback soon."
For the winners, Kuo Hao Kao and Sheng Ju Ting netted identical 16 points while skipper Ting Jhao Jian added 14 points and had three assists.
India's lanky Center Vishal Kumar Gupta was once again the most effective player for the team when he recorded his second double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
The shooting guard's duo from Tamil Nadu Hariram Ragupathy and Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi once again made their presence felt from behind the arc. While Ragupathy scored a game-high 21 points, Baladhaneshwar came up with a valuable contribution of 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Rachit (9) and Sahil (8) too played well for India.
After a much-needed break on Monday, the 52nd ranked Indian outfit face World No 62 Iraq in a must win game on Tuesday.
RESULT
Chinese Taipei (Kuo Hao Kao 16, Sheng Ju Ting 16, Ting Jhao Jian 14) bt India (Vishal Gupta 20, Hariram Ragupathy 21, Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi 12, Rachit 9, Sahil 8) 93-79 (22-19, 21-15, 28-22, 22-23).