China win basketball gold in Asian Games thriller against Japan

China took a big early lead and looked to be cruising towards gold in Hangzhou only for Japan to chip away at their advantage and draw level late on. The packed crowd turned tense as Olympic silver medallists Japan began to turn the screw, but China held their nerve and Siyu Wang (175-G-1995) sank the winning shot with seconds remaining. Zheng said she knew from experience that Japan were not out of it until the final buzzer. "We have played against Japan lots of times and it's rare that one of us leads by a big margin," she said. "We were a little bit rushed in the second half we had a few turnovers and the players became a little bit fatigued, but we stuck to our game plan." China's women gave the home fans a tonic 24 hours after their men's team crashed out in the semi-finals with a last-gasp defeat to the Philippines, disappointing the basketball-obsessed home nation. Another disaster looked like it might be on the cards when Japan drew level for the first time with just under three minutes remaining. A huge three-pointer from Yuan Li (170-PG-2000) eased China back in front before Wang settled it with a lay-up on the final attack. "We had good preparation and we knew that Japan were very tough and resilient, but we were confident and that's why we won the game," said Li. China fielded 6ft 8in (2.03m) Xu Han (208-C-1999) and 6ft 7in Li Yueru (201-C-1999), giving them a huge height advantage. Han, who has been compared to eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming, scored 10 points while Li bagged 13. Both were outscored by team-mate Meng Li (185-SG-1995), with 17. Both teams will now immediately turn their attention towards qualification for the Paris Olympics. "Playing in big games like this is good experience for us and we will try to make good use of that at the Olympics," Japan coach Toru Onzuka said.
Courtesy of: france24.com