Malaysia's hoop dreams dashed by Mongolia in Asian Games exit
NAGOYA: Malaysia’s campaign in the women’s basketball competition at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games came to an end after the squad were edged 89-81 by Mongolia in their final Group C match today.
NAGOYA: Malaysia's women's basketball team was eliminated from the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after a 89-81 defeat to Mongolia in their final Group C match. The game was tightly contested in the first two quarters before Mongolia gained an advantage in the third. Despite a late rally in the final quarter, the match was already decided, with Mongolia securing the win.
National center Tan Pei Jie expressed disappointment with her team's performance, stating, "I feel that we could have done better. We wanted to defend well inside, especially against their main players like Amari Robinson and Khulan Onolbaatar. But it was difficult to play against them (due to height difference), we still tried our best to win."
Malaysia, the lowest-ranked team in the group (No. 83), had lost their previous two group matches to South Korea and Taiwan. However, the team under the guidance of Japanese tactician Tomohiro Moriyama showed significant improvement from game to game. This was Malaysia's first appearance in women's 5x5 Asian Games basketball since 2002.
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