In the battle for the top spot of Women’s Division 1 at the 2019 Asia Oceania Championships, China and Australia met for the second time of the tournament but it was a much more clear-cut result the second time round as current reigning Asia Oceania Champions, China, took a convincing 55-24 victory.

China’s full court press defence ensured Australia got limited looks at the basket and difficult shots when they did get looks, as they kept Australia down to just 4 points for the first half. China themselves found their offensive rhythm early on shooting at a high percentage of 64%, as they got easier looks as a result of their defensive pressure, to lead 39-4 at half-time.

Australia didn’t let their heads drop and came back fighting in the third, working hard to create opportunities and tightening up their defence, winning the third and fourth quarters, 13-10 and 7-6, but China had already done enough in the first half to get the win, 55-24.

China’s Guidi Lyu shot at an impressive 83% to top score with 20 points, and 16-year-old Teisha Shadwell spearheaded Australia’s comeback top scoring with 9 points.

China now head into tomorrow’s semi-finals as winners of Division 1 and will meet hosts Thailand, whilst Australia finish second and meet Japan, who finished third.

Iran women defeated India for the second time at the 2019 Asia Oceania Championships, this time to secure themselves a spot in the 5^th/6^th placing game.

Iran won the first quarter 15-4 to open up a nice lead going in to the second, but India won a very low scoring quarter, 4-3, to trail by just 10 points at half-time, 18-8. The game was won in the third quarter as Iran turned up the gears and kept India scoreless, 19-0, giving Iran a twenty-nine-point advantage heading into the final ten minutes. Great fight was shown by India in the last quarter as they matched up to Iran, keeping the scores level 11-11, but Iran won it 48-19, leaving India having to settle for a spot in the 7^th/8^th placing game.

Iran’s Fattaneh Pourat led all scorers with 15 points, with India’s Suchitra Parida top scoring for them 6 points. India’s Kartiki Jagdishbhai Patel led the boards with 11 rebounds.

After losing to them by just six points in the first meeting, Afghanistan got their revenge over Cambodia in the second cross-over game for placings 5-8, by securing a 38-28 victory.

It was a tentative start by Afghanistan going down 6-10 in the opening quarter, but with the support from their men’s team watching from the sideline, it gave them a boost and you could see the motivation as they came back to take a five-point lead at half-time, winning the second quarter 13-4.

Cambodia brought the deficit back to only three points as the teams entered the fourth quarter, taking the third, 11-9. They struggled to convert their opportunities at the beginning of the fourth though, and Afghanistan went on 6-0 run to push out the margin to nine points, which they maintained to the end to secure the victory and a place in the 5^th/6^th placing game. Cambodia will play India in the 7^th/8^th placing game.

Sinet An was again influential for Cambodia making a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds. Afghanistan scoring was spread across the team with eight of their players getting on the scoresheet.

The championships, being hosted by the Sports Association for Wheelchair Basketball Thailand, will tell us which countries from the Asia Oceania Zone will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Tomorrow is the first full day of action with 10 matches over two courts over the course of the day.

You can keep up with all the action at the championships through live-stream, statistics, on the website, and on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).