Singapore, March 31 : The Indian women's basketball team failed to advance to the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup, securing a bottom place finish in Pool D on Saturday following losses to New Zealand and Australia.
Playing their games at Singapore Sports Hub, world number 79 India first registered a 10-17 loss to world number 26 New Zealand. Later during the day, a bigger thrashing from Australia, ranked world number three, by a margin of 21-7 knocked them out of the tournament, as per Olympics.com.
The Indian women's team had entered the main draw by defeating the Northern Mariana Islands, Indonesia and Hong Kong to top the Qualifying Draw C group. India finished with a perfect record to enter Pool D.
Against New Zealand, India was initially leading 8-7 but soon lost direction. Pushpa Senthil Kumar top-scored for the team with four points.
Senthil made small contributions to end with four points against Australia, but Australia was too strong for the Indian side.
In their inaugural appearance at the tournament back in 2013, Indian women's team captured the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup tournament.
The Indian men's basketball team had a worse showing, bowing out of the competition in the qualification stage, despite defeating the Maldives and Macau in their qualifying Draw D games. India failed to overcome the Malaysian challenge and bowed out of the competition.
Now in its seventh edition, the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup features a total of 23 men's and 20 women's teams. The knockout matches are scheduled for Sunday.
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