Bengaluru, 10th July 2017: Late last evening, on the final day of the William Jones Cup, the China ‘White’ team beat the Indian women’s basketball team 79-41.
Kavita Akula starred for the Indian women with 13 points, finding her shooting touch from beyond the arc, hitting three threes. India was dominant on the boards again, out-rebounding the Chinese women 43-35, led by Anjana P G with 10 rebounds.
This was the India’s final game before the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup later this month in Bengaluru. The William Jones Cup has been a key warm up event giving the Indian players an opportunity to showcase their skills and stake a claim for an enhanced role at the Asia Cup. They did not disappoint: while senior players Jeena Skaria and captain Anitha Paul Durai were consistent throughout, youngsters like Kavita Akula and Anmolpreet Kaur stepped up with encouraging performances. A matter of concern though will be the fitness of forward Poojamol K S, who suffered a knee injury during the last match against China ‘White’. Further details as to her participation in the Asia Cup are awaited.
Now, the focus shifts to Bengaluru, where India will be focused on securing promotion from Division ‘B’ to Division ‘A’.
Republic of China White (Hsiao-Tung Peng 14 pts; Lin-Chuan Huang 12 pts; Wang Wei Lin ‘#11’ 11 pts) bt India (Kavita Akula 13 pts, 8 rebs; Anjana P G 10 rebs; Anitha Paul Durai 7 pts) 79-41 [24-13, 22-11, 20-3, 13-14]
