FIBA Asia U-16 C’ship: Singapore girls finish 3rd in Level II, miss playoffs

By Les Tan/Red Sports

Jinan, China, December 4-11, 2011 — Singapore’s national under-16 girls team finished third in Level II at the FIBA Asia U-16 Championship, missing out on one of two playoff spots that went to Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Singapore had finished 11th out of 12 countries at the first edition of this championship in 2009.

12 countries were split into two groups — Level I and II. After the preliminary round, the bottom two countries in Level I — India and Philippines — went into a playoff against the top two countries of Level II — Malaysia and Hong Kong — for Level I spots at the 2013 championship.

The top four countries in Level I — Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan — qualified for the semi-finals.

Singapore were put into Level II with five other countries and scored victories over Sri Lanka (72–54), Macau (74–55), Uzbekistan (72–55). They lost to Hong Kong (44-73) and Malaysia (49-54) to finish third with a 3-2 record.

Malaysia topped Level II with a perfect 5-0 record to qualify for the playoff against Philippines who finished 0-5 and bottom of Level I. In the playoff, the Malaysians beat the Philippines 66-55 to qualify for Level I in 2013.

Hong Kong finished second in Level II with a 4-1 record and met India (1-4) for a place in Level I. However, the Indians saw off Hong Kong 81-51 to retain their spot in Level I.

Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, India and Philippines competed in Level I and Japan finished as the overall champions when they beat Korea 102-56 in the final. China, who lost narrowly to Korea by just one point (78-79) in the semi-finals, beat Taiwan 105-69 to finish third.

Singapore U-16 Squad
Amanda Lim (Captain, #9), Violet Chua (#8), Freda Chua (#7), Diane Seow (#6), Chin Wan Qing (Vice-Captain, #5), Janice Ong (#4); Isabelle Marie Carolyn Tan (#15), Ann Peng (#14), Leah-Diane Warden (#13), Iffah Syafiqah Binte Imran (#12), Foo Yuan Ru (#11), Tan Rong Ying (#10)

Level I
position/country/win-loss record

1st Japan — 5-0
2nd China — 4-1
3rd Korea — 3-2
4th Taiwan — 2-3
5th India — 1-4
6th Philippines — 0-5

Level II
position/country/win-loss record

1st Malaysia — 5-0
2nd Hong Kong — 4-1
3rd Singapore — 3-2
4th Sri Lanka — 2-3
5th Uzbekistan — 1-4
6th Macau — 0-5

Playoffs
India 81 Hong Kong 51 (India remain in Level I)
Malaysia 66 Philippines 55 (Malaysia qualify for Level I)

Semi-Finals
Korea 79 China 78
Japan 84 Taiwan 55

3rd/4th Playoff
China 105 Taiwan 69

Final
Japan 102 Korea 56