Seeds of an intriguing future rivalry were sown when the diminutive Indian hoopsters met giants from China for the first time at the Nehru Stadium on Saturday. The Chinese women hoopsters, favourites to win the 23rd FIBA Asian championship title, drubbed the hosts 107-49, but for once, the Indians didn’t look the pathetic punching bags despite the losing margin of 58.

“We had nothing to lose, so I think we played ok, soaked some of the physical battering, and put some pressure with our zone defence. We’ll take confidence from this and hope to play well against Thailand tomorrow,” Indian captain Geethu Anna Jose said.

Seen from the Chinese lens, this was a ruthless swatting where their best player Chen Nan was summoned only for the first quarter. But for the Indians, debuting against Asia’s best and playing internationally after two drought years the outing was full of lessons.

Raspreet Sidhu, forced onto the field due to Shib Maggon’s absence, shot the first scoring 3P confidently, and the game saw a rare connection of ball-through-hoops from the Indians as P Anitha, Prashanti and Pratima Singh raised India’s outside shooting percentage to .43 from .10 (vs Korea) and .13 (vs Taipei) earlier.

While China had a free-run for most part, once racking up a scoring run of 18 points without the Indians retorting even once, India came into their own only in the second half, though their failure at converting the free throws still remains inexplicable. India got in only 7 off 14 (Kiranjit frittered 3, Pratima 2), while China managed 13 off 16.

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