China recovered from their damaging loss to Japan in the semi-finals of the Asian Women's Basketball Championships with victory over Taiwan yesterday to clinch the third qualification spot in next year's World Championships.
The Chinese, led by two-metre tall centre Zheng Haixia with 30 points, showed a lot more spark than they did in their semi-final as they swept aside Taiwan 101-63 in the third place play-off.
'I'm pleased that we have made the World Championships - the team played a lot better today,' said Chinese head coach Zhu Jiazhi.
'We are in the process of rebuilding after the Atlanta Olympics and there are a lot of young players in the team.' South Korea, who defeated China in group play, lifted the title for the 10th time with a 74-61 victory over Japan in a close fought game. It was the South Koreans' first championship since 1988 with China winning the last four. Leading points scorer Yoo Young-joo and playmaker Chung Eun-soon led the South Korean assault against a committed Japanese team who were in confident mood after their semi-final win over China.
Yoo and Chung, later named joint Most Valuable Players, were supported by Chun Joo-weon as they made their superior shooting tell against a team who matched them for speed and all-round skill.
'We went to China three weeks ago and were beaten in the three practice games we played against the national team,' said South Korea's assistant coach Park Myung-soo.