ORLANDO: Indian girls produced a stellar show to beat a combined South American team 40-37 in their final pool match to register their maiden victory at the Under-14 Jr NBA World Championships here.
After losing their first two pool matches of the international bracket against Asia-Pacific and Europe respectively, the Indian girls came up with a spirited effort to eke out a close win at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex situated inside the Walt Disney World Resort.
The Indians girls led their South American rivals in the first three periods 12-9 14-13 7-6 before losing the last period 7-9. For India, Sunishka Kartik scored 17 points as against 13 of South America’s Josefina Balatti. However, it turned out to be another disappointing outing for the Indian boys as they lost 49-56 to South America. As per the rules of the tournament, there are eight teams in the international bracket which have been divided into two pools of four each.
All the eight teams qualified for the knock-out stages irrespective of the results and the pool outcomes are taken into consideration only to decide the placings. So, both the Indian boys and girls teams have automatically progressed to Friday’s knock-out round. The US bracket too has eight teams and all of them will play the knock-out round irrespective of pool results. The winner of the US bracket and the international bracket will play in the World Championship match to be held on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in Friday’s skill and three-point challenge contests, India will be represented by three boys and two girls. While Bhavik Garg and Dinesh Pal will be the boys representative in the skill challenge, Moumita Mishra will be the lone participant among the girls. In the three point contest, Jeevanshu Khatri will be the boys challenger while Sunishka will represent the girls. (PTI)
