Playing its second international match two years after the Incheon Asian Games, Nepal took lead in all four quarters to wrap up the comfortable victory. However, it was the first match of Bangladesh women's team. Nepal led the first quarter 20-10.Nepal made amendments in the second quarter and dominated the show finishing it 20-3. Giving continuity to its fine tuning, Nepal won the third and fourth quarters 31-4, 21-9.
Speaking after the match, Nepal's coach Bikash Shahi said that his team tried to play with ease since the opponent was not too tough for Nepal. "We let the players to play freely. There were some technical weaknesses in the early phase and we even failed to score despite keeping the match under control. However, we amended our mistakes in scoring and thus it was easy for us to win," Shahi said.
"We did not play our real game against Bangladesh since it was easy to beat them. Thus we changed our strategy. Our only aim is to win gold and Sri Lanka is our main opponent," he said.
Nepal will take on the Maldives on Wednesday while Sri Lanka meets Bhutan in another fixture of the day.
Bhawana Lama netted highest three three-pointers for Nepal. Similarly, Maya Syangtan and Elisa Malla netted three pointers twice each.
Shahi's counterpart Ronjit Chandrodas expressed satisfaction with his side's performance and lauded the opponent's pace. "Nepal played too fast. We are here to gain tournament experience. Majority of the players are from university and we could not have sound preparation for the tournament. However, they tried their best." Commenting on the opponent, he said, "Nepali players made good scoring from each position and some of them are talented. Besides this, Nepali players also had home advantage. I think Nepal is a strong team with potential to win the title."
He also lauded Nepal's effort of organizing the tournament as a crucial step for development of basketball. "The tournament will certainly contribute in developing the level of South Asian basketball," Ronjit said.
Earlier, Sri Lanka crushed the Maldives 106-39 in the first match of the day. Silva Kumarin contributed highest 25 points for the winning team. Sri Lanka dominated the match from the onset and led the quarters 27-10, 22-8, 22-12, 34-9.
The tournament being organize for the first time by Nepal Basketball Association features five teams of South Asian region including host Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives. The tournament will conclude on Saturday with top two teams vying for the title after completion of round robin league.
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