NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 22: When Chen Nan was adjudged the most valuable player of the championship, the packed Talkatora Indoor Stadium erupted and the din created by the clapping from the audience took some time to die down.Indeed, Nan’s immense value to the Chinese team, the champions this evening, was seen to be believed. China, brushing aside a possible Japanese threat, won the ABC Junior Women Championship here today for the eighth time. The 78-59 win over Japan in the final put them a place above the South Koreans, who have to their credit seven titles. And the Koreans, who staged a late second-half recovery, downed Chinese Taipei 67-64 to retain the third position. So, it was Nan who changed the complexion of the game in the end. The tall pivot played her role to perfection and she was one player her coach Liu Qing could not afford to take off even for a second. The Chinese, having met the Japanese at the league stage, knew the importance of stopping rival skipper and playmaker Oga Yuko. That is precisely what the Chinese did, to start with and, aided by Yuko’s back problem, the dice rolled according to Chinese plans. China had gone up by seven points before they allowed Japan to open the scoring. With better screening and applying a tight defence, the Chinese defenders put enormous pressure on the Japanese, who fell prey to the Chinese designs. The formers’ woes were compounded with Bai Xue and skipper Yuan Linag controlling the game beautifully. Earlier in the match for bronze, Korea came from behind twice to beat the Taipei girls, in spite of Sun Chieh Ping, who excelled with some fine shooting. Only three points separated the two teams. Brief Scores: Final: China 78 (Chen Nan 29, Zhang Fan 20, Ren Lei 12) bt Japan 59 (Oga Yuko 26, Tanaka Rika 15) HT: 44-35; Third place: South Korea 67 (Kwak Ju Young 14, Kim Eun Hye 9, Su Young Kyung 8) bt Sun Chieh Ping 26, Lin Chi Wen 10, Li Chiu Wen 8).
