Leading 39-31 at half-time, China, ranked seventh in the world, stepped up their game on resumption to outplay Korea. The two finalists along with Japan, who finished third by defeating Chinese-Taipei 72-57 earlier in the afternoon, will represent Asia at the 2010 World Championship.
The final was evened up until the break with little to choose between the two teams. However, China then came up with some decisive play in the third quarter at the end of which they stretched their lead to 17 points and then saw off a late fightback by the Koreans. The fourth quarter witnessed some heavy scoring with the Koreans notching 25 points to China’s 24, but the leeway proved far too much to make up.
The tall Chinese defenders performed efficiently under their board and it forced an increasingly desperate Koreans to attempt long range shots, many of which they missed.
Up front, the Chinese were a step quicker and combined far better than their opponents while exposing a rather ragged Korean defence that allowed far too much space.
Nan Chen (17 points) led the Chinese assault with useful support from Zengyu Ma (16) and Yan Bin (14) while for Korea, it was Yeon Ha Beon (29) who topped the scoring charts.
Indian captain Geethu Anna Jose emerged the top scorer of the championship with 132 points, ahead of Lebanon’s Chantelle Denise Anderson of Lebanon (118) and Chada Nasr (101).
Results: Final: China: 91 (Nan Chen 17, Zengyu Ma 16, Yan Bin 14) bt South Korea: 71 (Yeon Ha Beon 29, Sun Ming Jung 17). HT: 39-31.
For 3-4 positions: Japan: 72 (Noriko Koiso 21, Ai Mitani 16) bt Chinese-Taipei: 57 (Chen Hui-yun 17). Ht: 39-19.
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