Saturday, May 25, 2013

FA U18 3x3: Filipino boys stop India in their tracks, win gold

 Playing their second successive Final of the day, India would have hoped for their boys to make amends for the disappointment in the girls section. But as things would turn out, it was Philippines’ overall better control of the proceedings that became the highlight as the SEABA team outsmarted their opponents to win 21-19 and clinch the gold.
Things did good look for India during the day.
The team showing some excellent opportunism in offense and solid temperament in defense had overcome two tough WABA opponents in back-to-back games heading to the final.
Against Lebanon, India with Loveneet Singh at the vanguard seized the initiative early on and steadily built on it advance. And against Syria in the semifinals, it took a lot of effort on the defensive skills of Gurvinder Gill to keep the rally of their opponents at bay.
Thus when India entered the Final game, it was certainly with their expectations buoyant.
But Philippines, themselves had come into the gold medal game with their antlers up having beaten the mighty China in the semifinals.
As Rashleigh Rivero put it: “We were really scared of the Chinese, their size and height.”
But in a bruising battle that saw an unsportsmanlike foul being called on a Chinese player, Ferdinand Ravena converted two free-throws – a rare instance in 3x3 – to clinch the issue.
And the tale of close contest for Philippines, who had survived a late scare against Japan in the quarterfinals, continued in the gold medal game continued.
Ravena looked as flamboyant as ever and Rivero as steady, but the Indian quartet playing some uninhibited basketball kept nagging.
The scoreboard, as a result almost equal, till Ravena sealed the issue reaching the 21-point mark.
“Honestly, I don’t have words to describe my feelings,” Rivero said.
“We are overwhelmed. We didn’t really think we could go all the way. We had God on our side,” Ravena added.
 “We worked really hard for this,” chipped in Arvin Tolentino. “I think God helped us because we helped ourselves,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment