The four teams who will meet each other in the women’s semi-finals at the 2018 World Championships, taking place in Hamburg, Germany have been decided.
China became the first team to advance to the semi-finals, as they eliminated Canada from the competition with a 63-56 win. Canada’s Cindy Ouellet top-scored for the game with 23 points and for China, Xuemei Zhang managed a double-double 16 points and 11 rebounds.
China Head Coach, Yan Han, said, “We gave everything from start to finish. After half-time, our defensive behaviour has made the crucial difference in our favour. We are here to learn from the top teams and continue to improve.”
Making history, Great Britain women made their first ever semi-final at a World Championships with victory over the young USA side, 70-47. The USA remained in touching distance until the fourth quarter when GB pulled away, led by Helen Freeman’s 23 points, to finish the game with a comfortable margin.
Great Britain Head Coach, Miles Thompson, said, “We played well. The game was a bit closer in the third quarter, but we were able to pull our game through. We expect a very tough game in the semi-final.”
The Netherlands continued their winning ways as they progressed to the semi-finals with a clear 79-36 victory over France. An impressive first quarter from the Netherlands set the tone for the game winning it 28-6. Despite France tightening up their defence for the final three quarters, they still lost all three, 14-10, 19-6 and 18-14.
The Netherlands Head Coach, Gertjan van der Linden, said, “In the first quarter we were very focused. We made our first mistake after about eight minutes, so we had a good start in the game, and after that we changed a lot so that everyone got court time. We are already preparing for Tokyo and all players can play here, so each game is an experience and of course we want to win. Tomorrow we will play against China, they played well against Canada and we’ll see what happens.”
Hosts Germany finished the day with a win over Spain, 59-33, to seal the fourth and final spot in the semi-finals. The experience of Mareike Miller and Marina Mohnen caused Spain problems, hitting 18 points apiece and assisted Germany to the victory.
Germany Head Coach, Martin Otto, said “Of course we are very happy that we are in the semi-finals and are now playing for a medal, but our shooting rate was not as normal today. Our defence did a great job though stopping Spanish top scorer Virginia Perez.”
Germany will now take on Great Britain at 15.45pm tomorrow (Friday 24th August), and China will play the Netherlands.
For all results and more information click here.
Watch the 2018 World Championships
Photos and quotes courtesy of Rollstuhlbasketball WM 2018 Hamburg – MSSP Michael Schwartz / Uli Gasper
