Cyberjaya, Malaysia- April 15th was an intensive day to feature the last stage of pool games, shoot out qualifier contests as well as the semi-final games for both genders. 15 games were presented.
Pool Games:
The men’s game between China A and Thailand in pool B kicked off the day. China A had been struggling throughout the whole series striving to get their first win. Thailand however wanted to seize their number 1 spot in their pool to proceed to the semi-final. Both teams started to play very patiently, but resulted in not having anyone scored the basket. Yang Chen and Han Jiaxiao from China tried to attack the paint by posting up and driving to the basket, but did not work out as their attempts all fell short. On the other side, the twin brothers of Thailand Manataswe and Manatawin seemed to have telepathy between each other, one of them tried to split the defense by penetrating to the paint, while the other stayed out of the arc to be ready for the long range shot, this tactic worked out as China put too much attention on one of the brothers and ignored the other. Several 2 pointers were made to take over the game along with the help from their center player. The score ended with 17-13, Thailand successfully secured their number 1 spot in Pool B. In other games, Team Malaysia A conquered Macau China and got another ticket for semi-final.
As for Men’s Pool A, Central South University of China representing China B secured their No.1 position in this pool yesterday. However, other teams still had to fight hard. Both Mongolia and Indonesia had the same standings, therefore, whether to proceed into the semi-finals, it was all on this game. With this being said, the Technical Delegate Kenta Kawashima and Chief Referee Glenn both reminded the officiating referees and table officials about how important and crucial this game was, so everybody stayed alert! As expected, Mongolia came in very strong by using their size advantage to play in the paint, they efficiently used the 12 seconds shot clock to make sure every ball possession worth something. As for Indonesia, their star player Rivaldo seemed to be lost in the game, air balls and turnovers were shown at every ball possession that he had, so the team called substitution to sub him out, it appeared to be a good substitution as other players from Indonesia played smoothly, and were able to put their team back on the right track. At about 4 minutes left, Rivaldo subbed himself in, and made two amazing 2-pointers to tie the score. However, due to the foul trouble, Indonesia easily let Mongolia to step on the free throw line and won the game. Therefore, Mongolia grabbed the last chance to enter into the semi-finals.
Same situation happened at the women’s group when Macau China faced Malaysia A in Pool B. both teams were fighting for the second spot as China dominated pool. The players from Macau China had been a team for a long time, and they knew what to do at what time. When no.11 of Macau China handled the ball, no. 4 and 7 always got ready to take the long shot, while no. 6 defensed and protected the rebound. The home team Malaysia A relied on their big center too much, however she had no experience in playing 3x3 basketball, and always tried to draw fouls, which didn’t work out, and allowed Macau to respond quickly. As a result, Macau entered the semi-final with the score of 15-11.
In women’s pool A, Chinese Taipei and Thailand crashed their opponents with absolute advantage and got the chance to continue in the semi-final without suspense.
Shoot-out contest(Qualification round):
Just before the semi-final games, the qualification round of men’s and women’s shoot-out contest was in action. Each participant had 10 chances to shoot outside the arc, and the top 4 players from each gender who scored the most using less time would advance to the final round. Thidaporn of Thailand made 7 out of 10, it was the best record in the qualification round for both genders! Can she be the champion of women’s shoot out contest? Stay tuned for the tomorrow’s final round. The other 3 players that advanced from women’s group are from Chinese Taipei, Macau China and Hong Kong. As for men’s, the home teams Malaysia A and B were able to grasp two spots for the final round, and the others are from China B and Macau China.
Semi-final Games:
The semi-final games were played between China B and Malaysia A, Mongolia and Thailand in men’s category. While China faced Thailand, and Chinese Taipei met Macau China in the women’s category.
Due to the angle injury of Malaysian top player Jet Tan, Malaysia A was not able to stop China B and watched it proceeded to the championship game, the score was 16-14. Another semi-final game was very physical, Mongolia once again scored many points inside the paint with the advantage of great strength, while the twin Thai brothers struggled in vain as neither their speed nor their strength could match up with the Mongolian team. However, Thailand fought hard throughout the game, never gave up at a single ball possession, their center Nithipol even got cramp after tipping the rebound. But at the end, due to extreme size difference, Thailand lost the semi-final game, the score was 18-11, standing ovation to both teams!
For the women’s side, Chinese Taipei proved that they are the top contender of women’s title, conquered the Macau China by an easy win 21-4. China and Thailand brought a very competitive game to the audience, Li Xiaoran and Guo Zixin of China showed their thirst to victory at the very beginning of the game. Li made a few shots from downtown, while Guo tried even harder to reach the basket. Thailand was trailing during the first 4 minutes. However, after an effective time-out, the situation changed as Thai shooter Thidaporn started to find her rhythm, Amphawa of Thailand also contributed some points and assists during the last 2 minutes. But China wouldn’t let the chance to the final be taken away. Zhao Zixin stood out and made two very important 2-pointers and helped China to compete for the champion. The score stayed at 19-15 when the game clock hit.
Tomorrow, the final games would be presented, which would be lively broadcasted through MASUM facebook page. It would be definitely the most exciting day. Please stay with us otherwise you would be regretted to miss the fantastic moments!
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